Almost Perfect
by SawyerRaleigh
Summary: Kamui wakes up in a world where everything seems to be going great… except one person is missing. A relatively fluffy story about the couples of X including SubaSei, YutoSatsuki, YuzuKusa, HokutoKakyo, KamuiKotori, HinoDaisu, AokiKaren, ToruSaya, Sorashi
1. Rubber Ducky

_Author's Note: So as the description said, this is in response to those who wanted a longer version of "These Happy Summer Days". It's not exactly the same thing, and probably won't be QUITE as cute and fluffy, but that's because actually having a plot tends to prevent that sort of thing. :P I still intend it to be mostly focused on "but the couples got to actually be happy this time!", as was the point of the other fic. ^_^ Hope you enjoy!_

_..._

"Rubber Ducky, this is Purple Monkey, do you read me? Come in Rubber Ducky. Over."

"This is Rubber Ducky. Read you loud and clear Purple Monkey. Over."

"Have you spotted the target yet? Over."

"No, target is not yet acquired- wait! Someone is coming out of the temple!" Yuzuriha held up a pair of camouflaged binoculars to her oversized neon orange-rimmed toy sunglasses. "Oh no, false alarm. It's just White Swan. Repeat. False alarm. Over."

Sorata sighed and idly watched Hinoto make her way daintily through the snow on her way out of the temple grounds from his hiding place among the brambles that months before had been verdant bushes pressed against the wall along the temple itself. He shifted, trying to keep his best pants from getting too wet in the slowly melting slush at his ankles and blew on his hands, rubbing them together vigorously to bring a little life back to his frozen fingers.

"Hey Sora-chan? Over." the two-way radio inquired gravelly.

"It's Purple Monkey! Over."

"Right, hey Purple Monkey-chan? Over."

"Yes Rubber Ducky Over?"

"When this is done, can we get ice cream? Over."

"What? It's like ten degrees out." He stared at the little glittering princess crown hot-glued to the top of the pink plastic casing in silence for a moment, waiting for it to respond. "Oh, over."

"I know and it's making me crave ice cream! Over. Oh wait, not over. Or slushies. Ooo or snow cones! Over!"

Sorata thought for a moment. "We could make our own snow cones if we can find the syrup when we get home. Over." His stomach growled.

"Yay! Over." The muffled sound of snow being shaken from the tree branch Yuzuriha was sitting on hissed through the radio and he could just imagine her bouncing on it in glee. He hoped it didn't snap.

They both fell silent again for a while and the minutes ticked by.

"Rubber Ducky-chan? Over."

"Yes Purple Monkey-chan? Over."

"You should probably go on ahead to school. It looks like I may be here a while and I don't want you to be late. Over."

"No way. First period is history." Yuzuriha made a gagging sound. "I don't care if I'm late. Besides, I wanna be here for moral support! Over."

"Yeah but-"

"Alert! Alert! Target acquired! Target is leaving the building, I repeat, target is leaving the building! Now target is- Oh no! She's spotted me! Damn these shades- why couldn't they come in camo too? Fear mission has been compromised! Oh no, target is turning and-"

Arashi thrust aside the branches half-concealing the squatting Sorata in a snapping shower of twigs. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

He stared up at her for a second then screamed into the radio. "Run Rubber Ducky! Get out while you still can!"

Yuzuriha leapt down from the tree and bolted, her rain boots making loud crunching sounds as they sank into the fresh powder across the yard.

Arashi ignored her, busy glaring at Sorata, who was still awkwardly crouched in the slush and bushes.

He blushed then ahemed and stood up, brushing himself off with as much dignity as he could possibly fake while still standing a sea of dead branches covered in melted patches of snow. "For you- my lady!", he announced, holding out an enormous, more or less heart-shaped piece of chocolate. "As a token of my undying love!" A small piece of it crumbled, having been crushed in his arms earlier.

Arashi's eyes and mouth all narrowed into small perfectly horizontal slits. She turned on her heals and walked away without another word.

"Nooo!" Sorata leapt over the bushes and scrambled to catch up to her brisk pace, still clutching the chocolate heart. "You must take it! In acknowledgement of my love for you! Please miss!"

Arashi continued staring straight ahead, ignoring his pleas all the way to school.

By the time they had arrived on campus, Sorata had promised her his eternal love, all the stars, the moon, the sun, the clouds, the rainbows, his favorite stuffed animal, and four thousand yen, all to no avail. He was momentarily distracted however when he spotted a friend out of the corner of his eye.

"Ah! Saiki! Hey there kiddo- hoping for some v-day chocolates?" he grinned at the younger boy. "Perhaps from a certain lovely priestess?"

Saiki blushed so hard Sorata thought he'd melt all the snow on the school grounds. "I- um- that is…" he stuttered.

Sorata laid a hand heavily on his shoulder, still cradling the chocolate heart with his other arm, and gave Saiki a serious look. "Don't worry my son. Patience. In time, she will come to love you."

Saiki blinked and shrank back slightly. "Um… thanks…"

"Hey no problem I- ah! Miss! Don't walk away! You still haven't taken the chocolates!" Sorata bounded away in pursuit of his disinterested love interest.

Saiki watched him, baffled by Sorata's endless energy.

"Ah! Saiki! Good morning!"

He turned to the voice's sunshiney smile in time to see its owner reach into the sack she was carrying and hold out a small plastic bag tied with a satin ribbon. "Happy Valentine's Day!"

"Thanks Kotori. How are you this morning?"

She beamed happily. "Really good! I had a good dream last night!"

"Eh? What happened?" Saiki tried to shorten his stride so as not to get too far ahead of her.

"I dreamed that someone named Kamui was coming!" she grinned up at him.

"Eh? Who's that?"

"I have no idea." She gave him another brilliant smile.

He raised an eyebrow and tried not to say something insulting. "But… then why were you happy about it?"

She halted in her tracks and held a hand up to her mouth, her eyes wide. "Oh! I don't know why."

Saiki sighed. "Kotori-chan, don't get too ahead of yourself eh?"

"I won't!" She resumed walking to class with him, looking down at the bag of chocolates in her hands with a gentle, distant smile. "But… for some reason it made me really happy. To know that he was coming."

.

.

This morning was just like any other.

He had been working as a secretary for her for over a year now and she still managed to take his breath away every time she walked in the room. Granted often this was as she snuck in and hugged him from behind, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. But even if she didn't, he was sure Hokuto would still leave him feeling just as light-headed.

Today was no different. Hokuto's chokehold glomp greeted him as she bounded into the room, today clad in a plastic-looking minidress that appeared to be changing colors with the lighting. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the dress itself was in fact changing colors, tiny LED lights embedded in the seams glowing brightly, only outshone by their mistress' _presence. _

She immediately hopped onto the edge of her desk, crossed her legs, bouncing one, neon stiletto healed-foot energetically in time with the music of her iPod. She nodded her head to the beat, dark chocolate wisps of hair dancing wildly across her cheeks to the upbeat song. As soon as it ended, she pulled the headphones out, tossed the iPod carelessly behind her, settled her elbows on her knees and her chin upon her clear plastic fingerless gloves, drumming bubblegum pink nails against matching curled lips.

"So what's on the list for today maestro?"

"You have a meeting at eleven and a press conference at three about the new line of children's clothing. Oh and I think Ms Kasu- I mean Mrs. Aoki wanted to see you about a new idea; she left some sketches for you-"

She flipped through the folder he handed her, with an occasional "oo" and "ah". She paused at one thoughtfully and suddenly a devilish gleam entered her eyes.

"I dunno, what do you think of this one? Would YOU be turned on by it?" She held up a picture of a particularly lacy piece of lingerie and he blushed right to the tips of his ivory blonde hair. Noticing his embarrassment, she giggled and returned the sketch to the folder. "I'll take that as a yes!" She concluded with satisfaction, stuffing the picture back into the folder and hopping off the desk.

"Well then, if I don't have anything in particular to do until eleven, I am off to see Karen about her _magnificent_ work here! Now then, what did I do with my iPod…"

"Behind the desk." He mumbled, his cheeks still burning.

"Ohohoho, so it is! Thanks!" She leaned forward and air kissed his cheek before bounding out of the room as if gravity itself only partly applied to her.

This morning was just like any other. And Kakyou loved it.

.

.

"Goood morning Karen-san!" Hokuto burst into the office just as Karen was settling in at her desk.

"Good morning Hokuto-chan." She replied with a smile. "Shall I get pour you some coffee as well?"

"That would be lovely thanks!" She hopped over to the corner of the office where a fair-haired little girl was playing with an old teddy bear in a playpen. "And good morning to you too Kazuki!" she added, kissing the child on the forehead.

"Good morning Aunt Hokuto!" she answered brightly. "What about Paul?" she held up the well-worn teddy bear, whose blue ribbon was fraying away.

Hokuto kissed the top of the teddy bear's threadbare head as well. "Good morning to him too of course."

"I don't know why she still plays with that thing. You would think she would like shiny new toys better than my tattered old bear." Karen remarked, returning with the coffee.

"I'm surprised Nataku let her have it. I remember he was so attached to it." Hokuto took the coffee and settled on the edge of the desk, careful not to sit on any of the sketches scattered across it.

"He was, but I suppose he has a bit of a sister complex. It seems he can't say no to Kazuki." Karen chuckled.

"I got your sketches!" Hokuto announced, holding up the folder triumphantly. "They're fantastic as usual!

"Thanks! I'm looking forward to seeing the finished products- hoping to try out a few on Seiichiro myself." She winked.

"You would think after all those years you worked as an underwear model he would be immune to this sort of thing." Hokuto laughed.

"Nah, he's still a man after all. I mean it took him months to even ask me out on our first date, he was so embarrassed every time he came to one of our shows."

"Ohohoho, really? I wish I had been around for that! It would have been so much fun to tease him!"

"You would have still been in high school then though."

"Even better! I could have dragged Subaru along too and watched him squirm at the sight of lingerie models on the catwalk as well!"

Karen laughed at the image. "Your poor brother. Ah well, everything worked out in the end."

"Yep yep! Now then, shall we go over the drawings and decide on materials to use and whatnot?"

"Certainly."

.

.

The acrid scent of hot metal was suffocating and the sizzle as rain cooled it too quickly hissed behind the intermittent sound of falling debris. Footsteps crunched across the broken concrete and he clutched at the cloak around his shoulders to prevent the wind from ripping it away as it tugged insistently on the shredded and burned tatters at the edge of it. The rough cloth of the hood scraped against his cheek but he ignored it, watching the two boys fight it out, one more half-heartedly than the other. When at last the taller boy had the other pinned to the ground, a sword carefully aimed just above his heart, he stepped forward, pulled the hood back, and spoke, tasting acid in the raindrops that hit his lips.

_I wish…_

Subaru jerked awake, tangled in sweat-soaked sheets, panting heavily. He lay on his back, trembling and trying to make his vision focus enough to ascertain his whereabouts but a flood of memories was cascading through his mind, leaving him drenched in confusion.

_Subaru Sumeragi._

_25 years old._

_Veterina-_

_-mouji_

Two dragons twisted around his torso, squeezing the last of his breath away.

_CLAMP School grad-_

_Dragon of hea-_

_-rth_

"No, stop!" He pressed his palms to his eyes and recalled memories of breathing techniques to remain calm.

After several moments of this, he gingerly pulled his hands away and stared at a clear, ordinary ceiling. He hesitantly sat up, ignoring a momentary vertigo at the motion and unwound the sheets still clinging damply to his limbs before wandering out of the bedroom and into the kitchen where the scent of pancakes met him cheerfully. The person standing at the stove making them glanced over his shoulder and smiled.

"Ah, good morning Subaru-kun!"

All the blood drained from Subaru's face and suddenly the room spun again. The smell of pancakes twisted and became the metallic-sweet scent of blood and cherry blossoms. His hand felt sticky and warm as something thick and red splashed carelessly across his vision. Something heavy fell into his arms and warm breath tickled his ear as final words were whispered into it.

"Subaru-kun? Subaru, what's wrong?" The man stepped away from the stove and took a step toward him.

Subaru half-stepped, half-fell forward, burying his face in his shoulder. He began sobbing uncontrollably, twisting his fingers in the other man's shirt and clutching at his back, afraid to let go.

"Seishirou-san…"

.

.

Kamui stirred and pulled himself into a sitting position, feeling a throbbing at the back of his head that meant he must have hit it somehow. He rubbed the back of it and realized as he did so that it wasn't just his head after all. His whole body ached and he could feel bruises, some old and some new blossoming over most of his skin. He shivered then looked down, staring uncomprehending at the white powder dusted over his dirty, torn and blood-stained uniform.

_Snow_. It finally dawned on him.

A sword, flashing silver against black fabric, a grey and ominous sky gathering behind it whipped across Kamui's vision and he flinched and gasped, covering his eyes with one hand.

"Weirdo…" he heard someone mutter and jerked his head up to see people walking past the end of the alleyway he seemed to be sitting in. He clutched at a brick wall, feeling it scrape raw and blistered fingers, some still bandaged from various cuts, and dragged himself to his feet.

_I wish…_

His mouth felt gritty and he coughed, feeling bruised ribs protest at the abrupt motion. At the end of the alleyway he stared out into the street, which he thought he recognized but something seemed… off.

The deep, bone-shaking groan of heavy steel beams collapsing and slamming their full weight into one another and concrete rolled over him, causing another shudder. He looked up. The buildings were all intact. The street was in one piece, no long gaping crevice stretching over it, swallowing people and cars as it ripped through the city. Kamui could hear the echoes of screams but not the originals. No one was screaming. No one was crying. No one was running.

No one was dying.

He had no idea where he was.

...

_Oho, so I know this probably seems a bit confusing at the moment but give it time and it will all begin to make sense! ^_^_


	2. A Lost Puppy

Chapter 2

Kamui had been wandering for a couple of hours, ignoring the strange looks he got, just trying to figure out how to get back to CLAMP campus. He wanted to know if the others were alright, where Fuuma was, and generally what happened. He was still lost though, not to mention confused, lost, tired, hungry, dirty, bruised, and any number of unpleasant states to be in. Fighting back tears of frustration, he collapsed in another alleyway, back against the wall, elbows on his knees and hung his head, wondering what he could possibly do at this point. After a few moments of silence, a small whimper caught his attention and he looked up to see a puppy, lying half covered by the snow. Kamui reached over and brushed it off, discovering as he did so that its leg seemed to be broken. He hesitated for a moment, knowing that injured animals didn't normally take well to human contact but decided it didn't really matter at this point and took his uniform jacket off, ignoring the chill as cold winter air seeped easily through his dress shirt. He wrapped the puppy up in it, being as careful as he could to not move the broken paw and held it close. To his surprise, the puppy didn't resist or try to bite him; in fact it seemed to snuggle closer, seeking warmth. Memories of a rainy day and another puppy drifted to the surface and Kamui wondered again where Fuuma was.

"-cones! Snow cones! Snow cones!"

Kamui's head snapped up as a familiar voice drifted from the end of the alleyway and the sudden movement caught the girl's eye. She turned and peered down at him curiously, her bright yellow coat and rain boots splashing color across the grey city and white snow. "Hi there! Are you okay?"

A tall teenage boy with the sort of face that always seemed to be smiling even when he wasn't appeared behind her. "Eh, what is it?"

"Yuzuriha-chan…" Kamui croaked, relief coursing through him. "Sorata-san…"

The two both gave him a surprised look then looked at one another.

"Is he a friend of yours?" Sorata asked.

"I don't think so… Do I know you?" Yuzuriha replied to him over her shoulder before turning back to Kamui.

All the relief dissipated.

"Ah! Is that a puppy?" Yuzuriha cried, delighted when she noticed the squirming bundle in Kamui's arms. "It's so cute!" she reached forward to pet it and the puppy gave a small yip, licking her hand happily.

"Um, yeah, but I think it's hurt…" Kamui replied, still somewhat dazed.

"Hey, I think there's a vet nearby, we could take it there." Sorata offered a hand to Kamui, pulling the boy to his feet.

Kamui numbly nodded and followed the pair silently, still clutching the puppy and watching the two of them joke good-naturedly with one another. He wondered if he too, looked like a stray to them.

"Ah! Here's the place!" Sorata announced triumphantly, striking a victorious pose before a veterinary clinic. "See, I told you I remembered where it was!" He stuck his tongue out at Yuzuriha.

"You tried to go the opposite direction at first!" She reached up to smack the back of his head.

"I was just testing YOUR memory!" he quickly retorted, pulling open the door.

"Yeah, yeah, sure you were."

Kamui followed them into the building, grateful for the warm air that washed over him, easing some of his shivering. One of the veterinarians was talking to the secretary at the front desk so the three of them paused until they were finished. Kamui's eyes widened when the vet turned his head just enough for him to get a glimpse of his face.

"Su-" he cut himself off, realizing that if Yuzuriha and Sorata didn't recognize him, Subaru probably wouldn't either.

"Ah! Hello there!" the secretary cheerfully called, noticing the teenagers.

"Hi!" Yuzuriha bounded up to her, eliciting a strange look from Subaru. "We found a hurt puppy! Can you help us?"

Subaru glanced back at Kamui and Sorata, his expression carefully set into something unreadable. "Sure, let's take a look at it."

It didn't take long for him to reset the broken bone and wrap the puppy's paw and when he was finished, Subaru looked up, his expression still blank and asked who the dog belonged to.

"It's his!" Yuzuriha pointed to Kamui, who quickly shook his head.

"No, I just found it." He had no idea what he would do with a puppy at this point, given that he didn't even know what to do with himself now.

"Oooh well in that case- Sora-chan, let's keep it!" Yuzuriha eagerly grabbed at the older teen's arm, her eyes sparkling. "You know I've always wanted a puppy!"

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, yeah, I know, but are you really going to take care of it?"

She huffed. "Of course I am! What kind of person do you take me for?"

"I can give you the address of a dog trainer not far from here if you really do want to keep it." Subaru offered, taking a sticky note from the front desk to write it down.

"What'll we name it?" Sorata asked as she gingerly gathered up the puppy who began happily licking her cheek, causing her to giggle and hug it tighter.

"Hmm." She held the puppy up, pressing her nose to its. "How about Inuki?"

"Inuki?"

Subaru coughed and handed them the note. "He's open every day but Sunday, so you'll have to go in after school or something I'm afraid."

"That's alright!" Yuzuriha flashed him a sunny smile. She spun around to face Kamui who had been silently standing by, unsure of what to do. "Are you okay?"

"Fine." He mumbled.

Sorata and Yuzuriha exchanged a glance.

"Do you want us to walk you home?" Sorata offered.

Kamui shook his head. He didn't know how he was going to explain to them that he wasn't sure he even had a home right now and just didn't feel like dealing with that conversation at the moment.

The pair both hesitated before wishing him a farewell and bounding out into the snowy city with the puppy.

Kamui stood in front of the clinic and watched them disappear down the street, then pulled his uniform jacket back on, brushing bits of dog hair off and wrapped his arms around himself, wondering what to do next. Evening was falling and although the clouds completely covered the sky, he could tell the sun must be setting as it was slowly getting colder and darker. The snow had started to fall again, soft white flakes quietly drifting through the air, coating everything in an icy blanket, muffling the sounds of the city and making it look cleaner, softer, but somehow more blank and distant. Kamui felt like an intruder in his stark black uniform and black hair. He watched the cars and people go by, wondering if it was even worth approaching someone to ask them where CLAMP campus was or if his appearance would scare them away. Besides, if Yuzuriha and Sorata didn't even remember him, what good could going to the campus really do? He looked down at the ground, watching his feet slowly be buried in the snow and wondered if he just sat down and waited how long it would take for it to cover him completely and just erase him from this world he so clearly did not belong to.

A hand on his shoulder startled him and he jerked and looked back to see Subaru standing behind him with an umbrella.

"Are you okay, Kamui?" he asked softly.

Kamui started to stutter out a "yeah I'm fine" when it occurred to him that he had never said his name in the clinic. "You- you remember me?" he asked, his voice wavering from hope and cold and exhaustion.

Subaru nodded. "So the other two really didn't know who you were? I thought they were acting strange around you. But why do you look like you did that day?"

Kamui shivered. "What day?"

"The day you made your wish…" Subaru tilted his head as Kamui felt himself tear up. "You don't remember anything do you?"

Kamui shook his head, embarrassed at how close he was to crying.

Subaru pulled him near, putting an arm around him. "It's okay. Sorry, you must be freezing standing out here dressed like that. Come on, let's get you inside."

Kamui numbly let Subaru guide him to his apartment and wordlessly did as he was told when Subaru suggested he take a bath to warm up and scrub off some of the dried blood and grime from the battle, the last thing he distinctly remembered…

When he stepped out of the tub, he found that Subaru had left some of his own clothes for him and Kamui dressed, feeling that the clothes were not too big but rather he was too small. He quietly hung up the towel he had used to dry off and padded out into the living room where Subaru was sitting on the couch, sipping tea. He indicated another mug on the coffee table for Kamui and reached over the edge of the couch to pull out a blanket which he wrapped around Kamui's shoulders once the boy sat down beside him. Kamui clutched at it gratefully then at long last looked up and asked Subaru what was going on.

Subaru shook his head.

"I'm not sure. I woke up this morning with the memories of two people. Well, two me's I guess. One of a normal, ordinary life that has led to me living like this-" he gestured around the apartment. "- and another in which I was dealing with the end of the world and in which my last memory was hearing you make your wish. I assume somehow your wish did this."

"I don't remember making my wish though." Kamui stared into the tea and was surprised to notice a stalk floating upright. He didn't feel particularly lucky today.

"You did though." Subaru replied. "That's why everything has gone back to normal I think." He eyed Kamui. "Except you it seems. You don't have any memories of a life here?"

Kamui shook his head. "No, the last thing I remember is fighting with Fuuma, and then I woke up in an alleyway."

"Hm. That's odd…"

"Hey, Subaru? How come Sorata and Yuzuriha forgot what happened?"

"I don't think it's just them. Seishirou doesn't remember either."

Kamui tensed up. "What?"

The front door of the apartment suddenly opened and Kamui felt prickles run up his arms in response to the man who entered the room. "I'm hoooome!" he called cheerfully.

"Oh yeah..." Subaru blushed. "We live together…"

"Eh?" Seishirou looked up from taking off his shoes and caught sight of Kamui. He gasped then put on a fake expression of anguish. "Subaruuu, are you leaving me already for someone younger and more beautiful?" he cried, a hand over his heart as though struck by an imaginary arrow.

"Nono it's not like that!" Subaru hastily protested.

Seishirou chuckled and settled on the arm of the couch next to Subaru, kissing his temple. "I know. But really, who is this lovely little creature?"

Kamui glared at him which only drew another laugh from the man.

"He seems kinda feisty. Did Hokuto have an illegitimate son you never mentioned to me?"

"No, he's um… our cousin, Kamui." Subaru scrambled to find an explanation. "He ran away from home and needs a place to stay for a few days until he can get things back together. Do you mind if he hangs out here?" Subaru gave Seishirou a pleading look, begging him to buy the flimsy story and Kamui resisted the urge to face palm.

Seishirou studied the two of them for a long, uncomfortable moment before breaking into another, slightly more sinister looking grin. "Absolutely." He leaned over the top of Subaru's head and Kamui drew back, frowning. "What do you like to eat, Kamui-kun? I was just about to make dinner." He gave Kamui a smirk he knew Subaru couldn't see.

Not knowing what to make of the previous Sakurazukamori asking him what he wanted for dinner, Kamui simply stared.

"Hmm, kinda quiet huh? You know, he actually reminds me a lot more of you Subaru." Seishirou laughed and walked off into the kitchen where the sound of pots and pans being shuffled around could soon be heard.

Kamui gave Subaru a Look, to which he merely shrugged.

"He's not exactly the same."

"You sure about that?"

Subaru gave him a wry smile. "Well he didn't murder my sister this time around so I think it's a fairly safe guess."

Kamui's eyes widened. "Your sister is still alive?"

Subaru nodded. "She's the head of a major fashion line now. It really suits her…." He smiled to himself.

In Kamui's mind Hokuto always looked just like Subaru but female and he suddenly tried to imagine Subaru designing fashion clothing and started laughing.

Subaru gave him a confused look.

"Sorry, it's just-" Kamui found he couldn't stop laughing and realized he didn't want to either. As weird as it all was, being in this warm apartment, talking on a couch as if he were just catching up with an old friend, he could feel tension starting to melt away and he felt just a little bit less misplaced. When at last the laughter subsided he reached for the tea and smiled down at the stalk floating in it this time. Maybe it wasn't so wrong after all.


	3. IMing at Work

_Yay! Chapter 3 is up! ^_^ Oh and I meant to mention earlier, I'm modeling Seishirou's behavior off of how he acted in Tokyo Babylon before we found out he was a total sociopath. :P Does this mean he is really like that in this alternate universe? Or is he faking it again? Hmmmm._

_._

"Good morning Miyuki-chan!" Yuuto flashed a winning smile in his coworker's direction. She blushed and turned gave him a little wave. "And good morning to you too, Naomi-chan!" he winked as he walked past another coworker, smiling to himself as she stammered a semi-coherent response. There were definitely advantages to working in a mostly-female office, Yuuto thought to himself once again and sat down at his desk. Then pandemonium struck.

Every screen in the government building suddenly went blank and everyone around him swore under their breaths and tried to reboot or fix their computers. Yuuto raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, watching the black screen calmly. He was unsurprised when a message popped up on it and knew everyone else was reading the same thing, a note announcing that they would have control of their system once certain demands were met. There was more cursing and some telephoning and Yuuto sighed, bored without anything to do. Then an idea struck him. He glanced around, making sure that everyone else was distracted then did exactly what he knew he was not supposed to do.

He typed a response.

_Hi! :) _

He waited a few minutes and when there was no sign of an answer he added:

_Hacking into our system today? :)  
_

A message popped up below it.

**Yes.**

He grinned and typed back.

_Well that sounds like fun. How's it going?_

…

He chuckled.

_Not one for wasting words are you?_

**Not one for giving anything unnecessary away.**

_Ooooh you think I'm the police or security._

**Aren't you?**

_Haha, no, I'm just a lowly salary man at the bottom of the bureaucratic totem pole._

**Then what are you doing?**

_I'm talking to you of course._ _And looking for the pen I just accidentally knocked under the desk._

**Why?**

_Because it's my favorite pen, it's a Mont Blanc, those aren't cheap you know._

**I meant why are you talking to me.**

_Oh. Hm, because I'm bored. :) I have work to get done actually but I can't right now with the system down like this._

Yuuto was rather disappointed when the screen returned to normal after that message and sighed, readying himself for another typical day's work when a small instant messenger box appeared in the corner of the screen.

**There.**

He heard a coworker swear under her breath and looked up to discover that no one else's screen had returned to normal. He laughed and began typing a response.

.

.

Kotori was in an especially good mood that morning. The sky was mostly clear, and a few birds were singing happily as she walked by and she found herself wishing them all a good morning much to her sister's amusement.

"It just seems silly, it's not like they can answer you." She remarked as Kotori waved to the little cluster of feathery bodies.

"I know, but I sort of feel like I should somehow thank them for making my walk to school so pleasant you know? Besides, I'm in a really good mood today Saya Onee-chan!"

"Oh?" Saya turned to face her, "Why's that?"

"I had another good dream last night!" Kotori smiled and waved to their neighbors as well.

"What about?"

"Ah, the same as the one I told you I had yesterday. About someone named Kamui coming. Only…" Kotori blushed and held a finger to her lips. "Only in this one I fell in love with him." She laughed at herself. "You probably find that silly though, huh Onee-chan?"

Saya shook her head, golden waves of hair falling in a curtain over her shoulder.

"No. I had a dream about falling in love last night too."

"Ara? Really? Do you think it's a sign?" Kotori asked, excited. "What was the boy in your dream like?"

Saya blushed and looked down at the snow.

"Hm?" Kotori started to ask what was wrong when they reached the school.

"I'll see you later little sis!" Saya waved as she broke off toward the college section of CLAMP campus.

"I hear the new girl is really pretty." A friend of hers announced, coming up beside her.

"New girl?" Saya tilted her head.

"Yeah, we have someone new in our chemistry class supposedly."

"Hm." Saya looked up at the sky, daydreaming, when suddenly a shout distracted her.

The suspension wires from a beam being lifted onto a new building under construction were snapping and it was threatening to fall. Saya had just enough time to register that someone was walking beneath it, staring at a map and leapt forward to push the girl out of the way. The beam fell with a ground-shaking thud, spraying both of them with dust and Saya coughed, waiting for it to clear so she could see.

"Are you okay?"

"Ah! I'm sorry" she looked up and started to apologize to the person she had knocked over.

The girl chuckled. "Sorry? You just saved me there." The dust began to settle. "Eh? Do I know you?"

Saya gasped and covered her mouth when she saw the girl's face. She shook her head no, feeling suddenly shy.

The girl gave her a confused look. "Oh sorry. But thank you…?"

"Saya." She squeaked.

She stood and pulled Saya to her feet as well. "I'm Tooru. Tooru Magami."

.

.

Kamui sighed and pushed the chair back from the computer. He had been searching the internet for hours now for any sign of his mother, only to find that she was only twenty years old right now. It was a relief to know she was still alive but he couldn't help but feel somewhat dejected that she apparently was not his mother here. He wished he hadn't insisted that Subaru go to work instead of staying home and helping him search, but he already felt like he was being such a burden and intruder. Then again if Seishirou hadn't already left for work that morning he would have probably wanted Subaru to stay. He frowned and picked at a loose thread on the too loose jeans he was wearing. The man was still creepy as far as Kamui was concerned and seeing him act upbeat and kind was even creepier. Besides, one just didn't think of the Sakurazukamori as a normal person who ate and showered and slept and went to work just like everyone else. Then again maybe in a place like this, dark things just didn't fit and Seishirou had adapted. He wondered if he could and studied the raised lines of scars crisscrossing his arms and hands.

An idea struck him and he pulled the chair forward again and searched Tokiko Magami. He was surprised to recognize his former aunt in a picture that popped up and even more surprised when he realized what it was a picture of. He scrolled down and skimmed the article below in shock. He leaned back from the screen, processing this information. So Aunt Tokiko had married Kotori and Fuuma's father? Then… where did that leave Aunt Saya? And what about Kotori and Fuuma? He drew his feet up on the chair, wrapping his arms around his knees. Were they not alive here? Kamui could feel his spirits sinking when the front door opened and Subaru walked up beside him.

"I got off early." He explained. "I'm sorry, I just didn't like leaving you here all alone…" he trailed off and Kamui recognized a look of guilt that danced across his face. "Did you have any luck?"

Kamui shook his head, dark locks brushing across his forehead. He explained what he'd found as Subaru prepared lunch then sat on the counter next to him, letting the older man take in everything he had gone over.

"Hey Subaru? So you know Sakurazuka-san and your sister are still alive but you hadn't met Sorata or Yuzuriha before now? Do you know any of the other dragons?"

Subaru hopped up on the counter next to him, passing him a bowl. "Yeah. You remember the dreamseer that worked for the angels?"

"Kakyou?"

"Yup. He's Hokuto's secretary." Subaru toyed with the noodles for a moment, smiling to himself. "I think he has a crush on her actually."

Kamui raised an eyebrow.

"But it seems like he's too shy to say anything." Subaru tapped the chopsticks against his lower lip thoughtfully. "I'm kind of surprised that Hokuto hasn't asked him out though. Anyway. Karen works for Hokuto's company too." Subaru shifted somewhat uncomfortably. "She used to be a lingerie model actually."

Kamui snorted at the appropriateness of this. "That does sound like Ms. Kasumi."

"Ah, that's another thing. It's not Karen Kasumi anymore. She's Karen Aoki. I've never met her husband but I bet it's Seiichiro…" Subaru froze, something having just occurred to him and laughed.

"What?"

"I just realized- I didn't know this before but one of the other angels is their son. I think his name was Nataku? I wonder if their daughter was one of them too…"

"Eh? But wouldn't you know if she were?" Kamui immediately wished he hadn't said anything. Neither of them had brought up Subaru's disappearance or switching sides before and he didn't know quite what to say about it but the thought did suddenly remind him of the abandonment he had felt. His chest tightened slightly and he clutched at the bowl, aware of the silence that had fallen in the kitchen.

Subaru laid down his chopsticks, his noodles still half unfinished. "I didn't meet all of them." He answered softly and slid off the counter to put the leftovers away. "But I think those are the only dragons that I still know. But as you saw yesterday, Sorata and Yuzuriha appear to be around and okay so I guess the other probably are too."

"You don't know anything about Arashi?" Kamui asked, realizing that she was the only seal unaccounted for.

Subaru shook his head. "I've never seen her. I bet if anyone knows where she is, it would be Sorata."

Kamui hesitated. "I don't know actually… she disappeared too…" he trailed off.

"What?"

"Right before that last battle we went to visit Sorata in the hospital and he said she'd gone missing… I think Hinoto had something to do with it."

Subaru froze. He hadn't wanted to think about the past, about what happened at rainbow bridge but something struck him that he realized he hadn't wondered about before.

"Hey Kamui, you and Arashi showed up that day- the day Seishirou- the day at rainbow bridge." He choked.

"Yeah." Kamui replied quickly, cutting him off.

"But the others; weren't they all gathered when we got back to Imonoyama mansion?"

"Yes…" Kamui turned this over in his mind. "Hinoto said that the temple was going to be destroyed…"

"She told me the bridge was going to be the next kekkai to be destroyed."

The two of them stared at one another in silence for a long moment.

"You haven't seen her here have you?" Kamui asked darkly.

"No, but I wonder if she would have her memories even if we found her…"

Kamui glared and Subaru quickly tried to diffuse his anger somewhat. "Aren't you forgetting to ask about someone?"

Kamui's eyes dropped and he stared at his hands. "I haven't forgotten… I'm just… afraid to ask I guess."

"Why's that?"

"I don't remember what happened… I was afraid…" Kamui felt his own voice grow thick with tears. "that you would tell me I killed him."

Subaru sat back down on the counter beside him and wrapped an arm around Kamui. "No. The last thing I remember, he was still alive." Subaru didn't mention that he was standing over Kamui, ready to plunge a sword through his heart.

Kamui clutched at his shirt. "Do you think Kotori is still alive?"

Subaru pulled the boy closer, resting his chin on his head. "I don't know, but if everything else is normal, then maybe she and Fuuma are both around here somewhere, living ordinary lives."

Kamui smiled into his shoulder. "Thank goodness…"

.

.

That afternoon, Yuzuriha raced home from school, Sorata trailing behind her breathlessly. The second she returned to their apartment she called for Inuki, who didn't get up from his spot by the sofa but wagged his tail, tongue lolling happily at her arrival.

"What are you doing?" Sorata asked as she gathered the puppy into her arms and headed back for the door.

"Going to the trainer that vet recommended!" she cried over her shoulder.

"What? But the dog is still injured, he probably can't do anything yet." Sorata flopped onto the sofa.

"I know but we should probably sign up for lessons or something, don't you think? Now come on you lazy bum!" She tossed a plushy that had been left on the floor at him.

Sorata gasped and caught the toy. "Yuzu-chan! Don't hurt Mr. Purple Monkey-san!" He chastised her sternly.

Yuzuriha rolled her eyes. "All these years you've had him? You've probably done way more damage to it than I ever could. Remember the time you took it to the beach and an octopus tried to steal it? That was the funniest game of tug of war I have ever seen."

"Be that as it may," Sorata replied, pulling on his shoes. "You should still treat him with respect. He's your elder you know."

"No he isn't." Yuzuriha bounded down the apartment stairway, Inuki yipping all the way. "I was there when Aunt Mayura bought him for you."

"Yes he is! He's 237 years old!" Sorata informed her very seriously. "In fact his 238th birthday is in two days."

"Will you be baking a cake?"

"I was thinking chocolate with purple icing and sprinkles."

"Ooo."

"Oh this must be it." Sorata paused in front of the training facility and they let themselves in.

They were greeted by an enormous man with a rough-and-tumble look about him who was sitting on the ground petting a dog of his own.

"Hi there! I'm Yuzuriha Nekoi! I'm fifteen!" the girl announced.

"I'm Kusanagi Shiyu, I'm a little more than fifteen." He grinned and shook her free hand then took to scratching Inuki behind his ears, provoking an eager tail wagging session from the puppy and a beam from the girl. "You look like a good dog. What can I do for you three?"

"We need to sign up for dog training!" Yuzuriha declared.

"Well then, right this way." He smiled warmly at her.

Sorata thoughtfully watched the two of them make their way to a reception desk then grinned to himself.

.

_Gah I hated writing that scene with Kamui and Subaru. It just seemed so boring. _ But I decided to make up for it with a cute Yuzu/Sora/Kusa scene. ^_^ Oh and I loooved Tooru and Saya together (mostly cuz I felt like they were just so pretty together *_*) but I always felt really bad for Saya's husband so I thought I should make up for it somehow. XD I dunno. Whatever. He's not left out again. :P  
_


	4. Bad Liar

_Author's note: Chapter 4! In which Seishirou says "mine" and Kamui says *hiss*. But not in those words._

_.  
_

It had been tricky coming up with an explanation for Kamui's complete lack of any legal documentation but eventually things worked out and Subaru became his temporary guardian and Kamui found himself enrolled once again in CLAMP School. The morning he was to start classes, Kamui woke up over an hour too early and tried to roll over and go back to sleep. After much tossing and turning, his stomach as knotted as the sheets, he gave up and decided he may as well get ready for school. He wandered into the kitchen, struggling with his uniform tie when a voice from behind him made him jump.

"Need some help with that?"

He spun around to see Seishirou pouring himself a cup of coffee, his usual friendly "you can totally trust me" smile in place. Kamui briefly imagined Seishirou using the tie to strangle him and flatly declined.

Seishirou glanced up at him while taking a sip of coffee and Kamui noticed that with the smile hidden behind the cup it was easier to tell his eyes were more wary and predatory than he let the rest of his persona show. Kamui tensed and started to say something about it when Subaru walked into the kitchen, yawning.

Seishirou took advantage of his distraction to pull Subaru into a one-armed embrace and kiss his cheek, glancing back at Kamui with a smirk. Subaru blinked at the unexpected affection and groggily wished him a good morning. Kamui shot him another glare and returned to his attempts at getting his tie together. Subaru noticed his frustration and smiled, pulling away from Seishirou to reach forward to tie it for him. Kamui glanced over his shoulder and tried not to smirk back at Seishirou, who did not look terribly amused as it was.

He did however, allow himself a satisfied smile as he walked to school.

"Hey it's the boy who found Inuki! You're looking a whole lot happier than you did a couple of weeks ago!" Yuzuriha skipped up to his side, still wearing her yellow rain boots even though the ground had been clear for days. "Hey! You're wearing our school uniform! Are you a student there after all?"

"Um, yeah I am starting today…"

"Neat!"

"So you know campus is haunted." Sorata suddenly appeared on Kamui's other side.

Kamui's eyes widened. "It is?"

"Yeah. There used to be a crocodile hunter who came from Australia to take down an experiment in crocodile/leopard crossbreeding gone wrong. But the creature ate him and took to living in the men's bathroom at the end of the second floor in the high school division. It died there and now both of their ghosts haunt the building, coming out every night when the sun goes down to battle it out again." Sorata's face got closer and closer to Kamui's as he recounted epic tales of these fights and Kamui listened, enraptured. "So you had better be careful which bathroom you use and when or else-"

Yuzuriha's hand shot out in front of Kamui, colliding with Sorata's face and cutting him off. "Ignore him." She told Kamui. "The bathrooms are all totally safe, he just likes making up stories."

Kamui fidgeted, embarrassed that he hadn't realized it was a lie.

"Ah, we're here. Hey do you know where your classroom is?"

Kamui nodded, guessing that from what he'd already seen of the campus, the school was set up the same as before. He waved goodbye to Yuzuriha and Sorata and steeled himself for what he was sure was going to be a rough day. School hadn't been easy before, he was sure being gone for weeks, or maybe even months wasn't going to make it any easier. He walked into the room and handed a note to the teacher, explaining that he was the new student and heard a gasp from the other side of the room. He glanced in that direction then did a double take when he realized who the gasp had come from. His heart leapt and he suddenly felt slightly light-headed at the sight of those familiar golden waves and sincere, innocent eyes, widened in surprise.

_She remembers!_ He thought in shock but was distracted by the teacher directing him to his seat. He sat down and tried to focus on the class, but how can one possibly care about factorials when the girl whose death they caused is alive and well and staring right at them from across the room still? What do you say to her? How do you explain that you never meant for things to happen that way? How do you explain that all you ever wanted was to protect her? How to you even begin to broach the fact that it was her own brother who-

When the bell rang for lunch, he pulled together his things, still lost in thought and wondering if he even could say anything to her at all when suddenly Kotori was standing in front of his desk, a warm smile directed his way.

"Hi there! I'm Kotori! What's your name?"

Kamui's heart stopped.

Realizing that she had begun to look at him questioningly when her question was met with silence, he stammered, "I-I'm Kamui."

"That's a nice name!"

_Not really. _He thought, gloomily. She must have noticed his sullen expression because she quickly changed the subject.

"Would you like to come sit with us for lunch?" she offered.

Kamui nodded and followed her outside to where a few of her friends were seated at a picnic table. "Hey… this might be a weird question, but do you know someone named Fuuma?" he asked hesitantly.

"Fuuma?" she gave him a perplexed look. "No, I don't think I've ever heard of someone with that name. Sorry. Is he a friend of yours?"

Kamui stared at the ground and wondered how to answer.

That afternoon Yuzuriha and Sorata joined him on his walk home from school partway.

"What's wrong, kiddo?" Sorata asked at last, noticing that Kamui's expression had remained dejected ever since they saw him at the gates.

Kamui hesitated and frowned. "Do you know someone named Fuuma?" He finally asked.

Sorata shook his head. "Nope. Never heard of him. You, Yuzu-chan?"

"Negatory!"

"Why do you ask?"

Kamui's expression fell even further.

Yuzuriha and Sorata exchanged glances.

"Hey I know we just met and all and we probably seem pretty weird to you but you know, it's cool if you wanna talk to us about anything." Sorata offered, resting a hand on Kamui's shoulder.

"Yeah. It's no fun dealing with stuff on your own so please, count on us!" Yuzuriha added. "Because we're friends… right?"

Kamui looked back and forth between the two of them, taking in Yuzuriha's warm expression and Sorata's encouraging nod and found himself smiling just a little, feeling like a puzzle piece had just slid into place.

"Yeah."

Once he was back at Subaru and Seishirou's apartment though, he immediately went to the computer and began searching.

.

.

Daisuke sighed as he swept the walkway in front of the temple. He had only taken this job so that she would notice him but it still didn't seem to be working. She still walked past him every day, violet eyes turned inward, reflecting and meditating probably. He hadn't even managed to strike up a conversation with her yet. Months of working here and seeing her at school every day and he couldn't even manage a simple "hi how are you". He mentally berated himself for being such a coward.

"You've swept that spot already." An even voice pointed out.

He jumped. "Ah! Arashi-san! Sorry, I didn't notice you there.

Her face was discerning as she stared at him. "You've been sweeping the same spot for the past ten minutes."

"Oh I have?" he put a hand to the back of his neck and forced a smile. "Sorry, I'm a little out of it. I'll pay more attention though I promise!" He held up his fist determined.

Judging by her look though, his eagerness to please was not sufficient. She turned began walking back into the temple.

"Ah- um, Arashi-san?" he called out after her before he could stop himself. She turned back around without a word, waiting. "Um, do you know- I mean… does Hinoto-san like flowers… by any chance?"

Arashi tilted her head slightly, her impossibly straight hair falling smoothly with it. "She likes lilies." She said simply and continued back into the temple.

.

.

When Subaru got home Kamui was curled up in the computer chair again. He looked up at Subaru's arrival, looking for all the world like a lost puppy. Subaru wondered if this was what he looked like to people, recalling all the times people had said he and Kamui resembled one another. "What's wrong?"

"I can't find him. There's no trace of Fuuma online anywhere and Kotori had never heard of him and neither had Sorata or Yuzuriha or you…" Kamui trailed off.

"That doesn't mean he's not around. Or maybe he just woke up here like you did." Subaru pointed out, hanging up his coat.

Kamui blinked. "Oh. I didn't think of that." He paused, contemplating. "Is there any way to figure out if he's here somewhere then?"

Subaru leaned against the edge of the desk, resting his hands on either side of it. "We could always check the birth registries for him."

The hope that lit up in Kamui's eyes was almost heartbreaking.

"Do you want to go do that on Sunday- you won't have school and I'll have the day off, we can just go see what we find?"

Kamui nodded.

"So how did your first day back at school go other than that?"

Kamui groaned.

"Good as ever, eh?"

"And what's worse is Sorata still wants to tutor me." Kamui let his forehead drop onto the desk.

Subaru chuckled. It was strange, being able to laugh again.

"Hey, so- you're a vet now? Does that mean in this world you finished high school?" the boy lifted his head again.

"Mmhm. And college."

"But why veterinarian?"

Subaru smiled nostalgically at both memories. "It's what I always wanted to be."

Kamui pondered this. "Hey Subaru…" he fiddled with the end of his tie.

"Yes?"

"You still love Seishirou-san don't you?"

Another wave of nostalgia washed over him. "Very much." He answered, feeling that his own calm delivery of those words did not begin to do them justice.

"And even though he didn't remember meeting you- you two still wound up… dating I guess?"

"Yes."

"Do you think that… that Kotori and I could still… or I guess this time… actually be happy together?"

Subaru studied the nervous teenage boy in front of him and suddenly felt like he was looking at a mirror, reflecting himself eight years ago. "I think you could, yes."

Kamui looked up at him gratefully.

"I'm hooome!" Seishirou entered the room and glanced at the two of them. "Ah, am I interrupting some important conversation?"

Subaru shook his head. "We were just talking about how school went."

"Oh? And how was it?" Seishirou ruffled Kamui's hair, leaving it mussed, black locks sticking out in every direction. Combined with Kamui's clearly displeased expression, the effect was similar to that of a small bird that has puffed up its feathers in anger. Subaru covered his mouth with his hand, holding back a laugh.

"It was fine." Kamui replied stiffly. "I should probably get started on my homework." He unfolded himself out of the chair and grabbed his backpack, disappearing into the spare bedroom that had become his.

"Remind me again why he doesn't like me?" Seishirou asked, wrapping his arms around Subaru's waist to hug him from behind.

Subaru scrambled for a good reason. "Um… he doesn't like people who always dress so formally. It-um, reminds him of his dad. Who he doesn't get along with. Which was why he ran away." Subaru blurted out, wishing he hadn't as soon as he'd finished.

Seishirou tilted his head to look at Subaru over his shoulder.

Subaru gave him the most serious look he could muster.

Seishirou laughed. "You're a horrible liar Subaru."

Subaru sighed. "I know. " he replied a little painfully.

Seishirou chuckled again and kissed the spot below his ear. "It's because you don't practice enough." He trailed another kiss to his cheek. "You're too honest for your own good." He left another kiss at the corner of his mouth. "But since you don't normally lie, I'll assume you have good reason to and let it go this time, shall I?" He reached one hand up to gently turn Subaru's head to face him and left a lingering kiss on his lips. "But you'll have to make it up to me later." He informed him with a wink.

Subaru smiled and agreed.

.

_Author's Note:_

_Meanwhile Fuuma was actually at the North Pole, constructing a magical workshop in which he intended to hire midgets to help him build toys which he would distribute once a year. _

_I'm kidding of course, but seriously. If **I** had the power to see and grant people's wishes? That is exactly what I would do. Become the real live Santa Claus. Then at your high school reunion you could have the following conversation:_

_"I became an accountant."_

_"I'm a school nurse."_

_"I'm SANTA CLAUS. Suck on that candy cane bitches!"_

_I envy Fuuma.  
_


	5. Eskimo Kisses

_Author's Note: Muahaha welcome to chapter 5: in which Yuuto stares at Satsuki's boobs. Oh yes, and for those who have not read Chobits- Persocoms are robots that look almost exactly like humans. For those who have read Chobits, enjoy the reference! :P  
_

_.  
_

Yuuto was bored again. He stretched and looked around at all of his coworkers, diligently occupied and sighed to himself. He propped his chin up on his hands and stared at his computer screen, willing it to crash just so he would have an excuse to get up for a few minutes.

"I'm sorry but I can't legally do that; it's an invasion of privacy…"

"Hm?" Yuuto raised his head and peeked over at the information desk where a disappointed young man and teenage boy were talking to the attendant. He broke into a grin and casually strolled over to them, resting a hand on the attendant's shoulder and telling her he'd handle this. She started to protest but quickly broke off when she realized who it was and went away, blushing.

"So what can I do for you two fine gentlemen?" He asked cheerfully, wondering at the startled look the teenager was giving him. Evidently the older man didn't know why he was so surprised either as he gave the boy a questioning glance before explaining to Yuuto that they were looking for someone and asking if there was anything he could do to help them. Yuuto guided the two of them back to his desk and began searching his computer.

"Um… if this isn't legal, we probably shouldn't…" the older man hesitantly started but stopped when the boy gave him a pleading look.

"It's alright!" Yuuto reassured them both. "However, I'm afraid I'm not coming up with anything. This 'Fuuma Monou' doesn't seem to have been born in Japan, or in fact have any records here at all."

The boy's face fell and the older man comfortingly put an arm around his shoulders.

An idea struck Yuuto. "Is it possible that he's hiding his identity or involved in some sort of underground?"

The two looked at one another. "Yeah that's possible, but you wouldn't have anything on him then would you?" The man asked.

"No, we wouldn't. But I know somebody who might be able to track him down…" he spun around in his computer chair, enjoying the momentary feeling of weightlessness, and pulled up an instant messenger box. A small ding a moment later announced a response.

**Why?**

He wasn't about to admit that he'd been wanting to meet the hacker ever since they first started talking a few weeks ago so he typed back

_Because I have two people looking for someone that there is absolutely no record of in our databases. _

**What do you want me to do about it?**

_Meet up with us so they can explain who they're looking for and you can work your magic and find him?_

**No.**

_Aw why not? The kid looks like he's about to cry if they don't find him._

The boy reading over his shoulder cried out indignantly "I am not!"

Yuuto laughed. "I know, I know. But he doesn't know that."

**Why can't you just send me the information online?**

_It'll look too suspicious if we're just all sitting her in my cubicle, while I type up whatever they tell me for you instead of working. Come on, please? _

**What are the names of the people with you?**

Yuuto asked and typed back. _Subaru Sumeragi and Kamui Shirou._

There was a long pause.

"What's going on?" Subaru asked finally.

"I bet he's checking to make sure you're not undercover cops. You aren't by the way, are you?" Yuuto smiled up at them.

The two exchanged a nervous glance. "Um, no… why does he need to know that?"

"It's a long story."

**Fine. Duklyon Bakery in twenty minutes. **

"Success!" Yuuto declared. He stood up and grabbed his coat.

"Eh?"

"I'm coming too!" he informed them and knocked on his boss's door on the way out. "Kanoe-san?"

A young male intern started at Yuuto's opening the door and leapt away from Kanoe, who was carefully rebuttoning her blouse. "What is it Yuuto?" she asked calmly, ignoring the intern's embarrassed shuffling of the items on her desk.

He flashed a grin. "Showing the interns the ropes eh? I'm off to lunch!"

She raised one perfectly waxed eyebrow. "At 9:30?"

"Yup. And I may be a little bit long too. Just thought I'd let you know!" He ignored her disapproving look. "Work hard now and you'll go far." He winked over at the intern who began to stammer an incoherent response, cut short by Yuuto's slamming the door shut. "Ah to be an intern again." He sighed wistfully, taking no notice of Subaru's surprised and Kamui's disgusted looks.

Despite whatever opinions the two of them had formed of him by this point they obediently followed Yuuto to the bakery, whispering quietly to one another behind him. He considered intruding, but decided against it and then paused as they were entering the bakery. "Ah… I just realized… I have no idea what he looks like…"

The boy and the man stared at him in disbelief.

"Yuuto Kigai." A woman in a sleeveless army green dress sitting at a booth a few feet away called, pushing a pair of thick black-rimmed glasses up her nose. Seeing his confusion she added, "I had access to your work profile information, remember?"

"Oh so you did!" He took a seat next to her, guessing that the man and the boy were not keen on being separated. "I'm sorry, I had no idea the person I was talking to was such a beautiful young woman." He smiled winningly at her.

"And I had no idea the person I was talking to looked like a game show host. Do you always dress that way?" She scanned a menu with the same expression one might wear when reading a law manual.

Yuuto laughed and introduced Subaru and Kamui, sitting back to watch the three of them interact, his focus mostly on the girl, wondering what was going on behind those serious eyes of hers and just what cup size she was anyway. The dress wasn't incredibly low cut but Yuuto was enjoying the view above the neckline and mentally filling in what was below it, inch by inch when suddenly he realized the other three were staring at him. The girl's disengaged expression had not changed but Kamui was giving him yet another disgusted glare and Subaru seemed more confused than anything else. "Hm?"

"Do you mind if we go back to my lab so I can start searching?" the girl repeated.

"Oh not at all. In fact, I would love to see your lab; after that stunt you pulled a few weeks ago, I'm sure it must be impressive…"

She ignored his flattery and stood up, leaving cash on the table for her drink and walking out without checking to make sure he was behind her.

Yuuto smiled after her, enjoying the new angle just as much as the last. He wasn't normally one for challenges, after all, those took too much work, but there was something intriguing about the utter disinterest the girl was displaying in not only him but everything around her. He glanced over his shoulder to see Subaru and Kamui whispering to one another again. It looked like Kamui was asking him something and he thought he heard the words "like that before?" at the tail end of his question. Subaru merely shrugged but before Yuuto could really begin to wonder what it was they kept whispering about the girl brought them to a stop before a gated entrance to a rather large house. He whistled. "Impressive. Do you live here?"

"Of course." She replied, punching in the code to open the gates.

"Aren't you worried though, showing us where you live?"

She looked at him dead on. "No. You would never make it past my security systems if you tried to break in."

"You're very confident in them then."

She didn't respond, merely led them into the mansion where four scantily clad Persocoms stood in a row and welcomed them, offering to take their coats and bring them something to drink. Yuuto chuckled as Kamui turned bright red and tried not to look at the one in the incredibly short French maid outfit that had approached him. Subaru fidgeted but did at least manage to get out of his coat and hand it to the one in fishnet leggings waiting for it. Yuuto rested a hand under the chin of the stiletto-healed Persocom attending him. "Excellent craftsmanship. You ever get freaky with these things?"

The girl didn't answer again but as she turned to lead them down another corridor, he thought he caught sight of a small smirk on her lips. They followed her into a freezer-cold room and Yuuto immediately wished he hadn't given the Persocom his coat after all. The girl took a seat in front of one of the man monitors lining the walls of the room and began typing. The Persocoms provided more chairs for the other three who took their seats, watching the girl's fingers fly across the keys. After a long silence except for the soft whirring of machines and tapping of computer keys, she turned to them.

"I'm not coming up with anything. Are you sure he hasn't significantly altered his appearance and/or taken an alias?"

Subaru and Kamui exchanged a look.

"His appearance did alter…" Subaru began.

Kamui shook his head. "Not like that."

Yuuto raised an eyebrow.

"Well?" the girl prompted.

"No." the two replied in unison.

"Then there's nothing more I can do other than keep a look out for him." The girl informed them matter-of-factly.

The two sighed and thanked her for her time as she showed them all to the front door.

Yuuto too sighed, not looking forward to returning to work. "Oh, I almost forgot!" he paused on the doorstep as the girl was closing the door, the other two already on their way down the walk.

"Hm?"

"You never mentioned- what is your name?"

She hesitated a moment then replied, "Satsuki."

"Satsuki… it suits you."

She stared at him blankly.

"Can I come by and see you again sometime, Satsuki?"

She looked at him like he had just asked for her permission to juggle some baby seals on her roof.

"Just… you know, to say hi?"

She thought about it for a long moment and Yuuto waited patiently, watching Subaru and Kamui disappear down the street. At last she shrugged. "Suit yourself." She closed the door, effectively ending the conversation before he could ask her anything else but Yuuto was satisfied for the moment. He returned to work happily, feeling that it was a very productive lunch break.

.

.

There were moments sometimes when Seiichiro Aoki could not believe his luck. Now was one of those moments as he watched his wife and son from the doorway of the boy's room. He fondly watched them say their prayer side by side, kneeling by the bed, Nataku doing his best to imitate his mother's graceful crossing herself then watched as he crawled onto the baseball patterned sheets and snuggled down as Karen pulled the thick blue comforter over him, pushing his hair back to press those ruby-red lips of hers against his forehead.

"I love you." She whispered gently.

"I love you more mommy!" he replied brightly.

She giggled, a gold-tinted laugh that warmed Seiichiro to his bones. "No, I love _you _more!"

"No! I love YOU more!" the boy insisted.

She leaned down to give him an Eskimo kiss. "Good night sweetheart." She said, switching off the bedside table lamp.

"Hey mommy?"

"Yes dear?"

"When I grow up, will you marry me?"

She laughed. "No, hon. I have someone just for me already."

"Just for you?"

Karen glanced at the doorway and Seiichiro felt his heart surge.

"Yes. And someday you'll find someone just for you too. And that should be the person that you ask to marry you. Now then, sweet dreams."

Nataku contemplated this as she kissed his forehead once more and walked out of the room and Seiichiro started to pull the door closed.

"I love you too, daddy!" the boy called.

Seiichiro paused and smiled in at him. "I love you too, son."

He returned to his own bedroom and wandered into the bathroom, taking a seat on the edge of the tub to watch Karen take her makeup off. He loved doing this; somehow it was far more sensual than watching her take her clothes off to him. Perhaps it was the privacy of it. Having been an underwear model, and having casually dated and had her fair share of sexual partners before she met him, Seiichiro was well aware that many people had seen his wife nude or semi-nude before. However, he got to see her as just her. The woman beneath the Estée Lauder and Sephora, the Dior and the Gabbana. The woman that he loved. She laughed when he told her that, her red curls dancing against her cheeks, red lips parted in a tantalizing smile that he couldn't resist moving in to kiss.

"You know what we haven't done in a long time?" she asked when they broke away, his hands wandering up the edge of the satin nightgown she'd changed into.

"Hm?" he asked, distracted by the silky material under his hands and the way her skin was nearly the same texture.

"Had a dinner party."

"I guess not."

She ran her fingers down his tie, drawing a shudder from him as her hand broke away just above the waist of his pants.

"Why don't we invite some people over for one next weekend then? It'll be an excuse to break out that champagne that coworker gave me for Christmas."

"Sounds good to me." He agreed.

She smiled and stood up, taking his hand and leading him to the bed.

A few moments later he had another good long evening of not being able to believe his luck.

.


	6. Kamui's Bad Day

_Author's Note: Yaaaay chapter 6: in which Kamui has a bad day is up and running!_

_.  
_

"Kakyou!" Hokuto called, sweeping back into her office Monday morning, the train of her sparkly green dress billowing behind her. She hopped over his desk and sat on it, facing him, eyes just as sparkling and just as green as the fabric, wide and alert.

"Um, yes Sumeragi-san?" he asked, nervously backing away a few inches so that her nose wasn't _quite _so close to touching his.

"Nonono. Hokuto. Say it with me. Ho-ku-to." She grabbed either side of his face so that he couldn't look away and repeated it until he did in fact say it with her. "Karen is having a dinner party." She announced, once she was satisfied that Kakyou had gotten the message. "This Sunday. Are you busy that evening?"

Kakyou's eyes widened and his cheeks burned bright red. "Um, no." he mumbled, twisting his hands in his lap.

Hokuto smiled to herself, reminded of another shy young man she knew. "Then how about going with me? You know, as a date." She winked and held her fingertip up to the corner of her lips, loving the way his blush deepened as he stammered out a yes. "Awesome!" she threw her arms around his neck, and thought once more how much she enjoyed the feeling of that soft ivory hair against her cheek. She wondered sometimes if he knew how much she loved it and that was why he kept it long but was sure he had no idea. _Subaru wouldn't_. She thought then remembered. "Oh yes! And can you get my brother on the line please?"

Kakyou nodded, looking slightly disappointed as she pulled away and moved to her side of the room to pick up the telephone.

"Onee-chan?" came a male voice on the other end of the line after a few moments.

"Hey-o little bro! I'm not interrupting any kitty-life-saving procedures or anything am I?" When he reassured her she wasn't, she shared with him the details of the dinner party, informing him that Karen's invitation had been extended to both he and Seishirou. Subaru hesitated to respond. "What? Is something wrong? Are you busy that day or something?" she asked.

"No, it's just… do you think we could bring along someone else as well?"

"Oh I'm sure you could, you know how Karen is and anyway the more the merrier right? But who is this mysterious other person?" Hokuto paused then grinned devilishly. "Have you and Seishirou taken to a ménage à trois?"

"Hokuto! No!" Subaru protested.

She giggled. "I didn't think so but hey, one never knows these days. Besides, Sei-chan told me about the handcuffs so I know you're at least a little willing to experiment. Don't even try to deny it." She heard a small smack and guessed (accurately) that Subaru was burying his face in his free hand as best he could. "But no really, who-"

There was a knock on the door and a deliveryman entered the room with a cardboard box under arm and a clipboard in hand. Kakyou rose quickly to address him but Hokuto stopped him. "Yay! The new prototypes of the hair accessories are here! Gotta-go-Subaru-see-you-and-your-new-little-crumpet-on-Sunday-bye!" She rushed over to the delivery man, oblivious to the overwhelmed stares she received as she whipped the box away from him and tore into it.

"Oh my god, these headbands are ADORABLE." She cheered and set to work trying on each one and examining them in the mirror she kept behind her desk for a reason.

.

.

It was a quiet afternoon at the temple and Arashi decided to take advantage of it. She settled down on a mat and within moments was lost in meditation. It was interrupted minutes later though by a crash from outside the temple. She sighed to herself and wearily got up, walking outside to see if anyone was injured.

The yard in front of the entrance was strewn with lilies and two disheveled boys. Daisuke pulled himself to a sitting position, rubbing his shoulder with an annoyed expression that quickly changed to dismay as he caught sight of the ruined flowers.

"Heh, sorry about that kiddo…" Sorata apologized, trying to recover some of them. "I guess I got a little too excited and wasn't paying attention to where I was going… But I shall make it up to you! What's your favorite dish, I'll make it for you for lunch tomorrow!" He held up a handful of lilies which flopped limply against his hand, much to Daisuke's chagrin, who gave them a disappointed look as he took them. "Ah! Miss!" Sorata caught sight of Arashi and began scrambling around the grounds. "Dang it, where'd it go…"

Arashi crossed her arms and wondered if once he was done crawling around like an idiot, he would be finished making a fool of himself for the day or if he'd find another way to do so.

The latter it seemed, as he retrieved a small plush bunny tangled up in the shrubs where he had been hiding on Valentine's Day. He leapt up the steps and bowed, holding it out to her. "As a token of my love for you!" He announced. "I apologize for the Valentine's chocolates getting slightly crushed and just wanted to remind you that my feelings have not changed since then!"

She stared at him, wondering if he was really this much of an idiot or if it was just a show he put on. Then he looked up and grabbed her hand and placed the bunny in it, brushing off a stray twig that had snagged on its red velvet bow. "Here! It's yours!"

She looked down at the bunny, who stared back at her with button eyes, then up at him who stared at her with hopeful eyes. She glanced down at the bunny again then back up at him again. He gave her another grin then bounced back down the steps to help Daisuke to his feet, offering to help him pick up the flowers and take him out for ice cream to make up for it. Arashi remained where she was, watching the two of them make their way out of the temple grounds, wondering how Sorata had managed to get Daisuke's smiling again so quickly. Her fingers subconsciously tightened around the plush toy and she returned to her mat but found every time she closed her eyes and tried to meditate this time, the memory of him taking her hand kept replaying. She reopened her eyes and stared at the bunny again then smiled softly to herself, glad that no one else was around to see.

.

.

Inuki was scheduled for training twice a week but Yuzuriha found herself going to see Kusanagi almost every day after school, her already obedient puppy in tow. She had discovered that he also ran an animal shelter behind the studio and had happily volunteered to help him take care of the animals, walking the dogs with him, feeding the birds, and of course, playing with the kittens.

Yuzuriha lay on her stomach, kicking her heals in the air and giggling as she felt one kitten struggle to climb up her back and another curled up on her head, fighting for balanced as she bobbed it, reaching out to scratch another one's ears. A deep, rumbling laugh, like boulders tumbling down a hill, came from the birdcages.

"You look like one of them yourself." Kusanagi told her, affectionately stroking a macaw whose owner had abandoned it when its wing was broken.

She giggled and sat up, kittens tumbling right and left to the floor. "Hey Kusanagi-san? Have you heard that they're going to be opening a new exhibit at the zoo?"

"Oh? What animal?"

"Polar bears!" Yuzuriha crossed her fingers behind her back. "If you aren't too busy, would you like to go there with me sometime and see them?" she asked eagerly.

Kusanagi flashed her a grin and picked up a smaller bird, a tiny yellow canary that climbed cautiously onto his finger. "Sure, if you want. But wouldn't you rather go with your boyfriend?"

"Boyfriend?" Yuzuriha tilted her head, catching the kitten that had been perched precariously on it before it could hit the ground.

"Yeah that boy that was in here when you first came to sign up for training and who sometimes still walks you here."

"Oh! You mean Sorata!" Yuzuriha laughed. "He's not my boyfriend! We're cousins."

"Oh, sorry, my mistake then. It's just that you two seemed really close."

"We are." Yuzuriha pulled her feet up to sit cross-legged. "His parents and mine used to be really close so we sort of grew up together."

Kusanagi hesitated. "Used to be?"

She nodded and pulled a kitten in close to her heart. "They died in a car crash a few years ago on their way back from a party. So Sorata sort of wound up taking care of me." She pushed down memories of a different time and forced a bright smile. "But it's okay, cuz we still have one another!" She couldn't read the look Kusanagi gave her but turned away, quickly gathering up the kittens. "Anyway, how about next week for the zoo?"

"Sounds good to me." Kusanagi agreed a little more softly than usual.

She skipped over to him once the kittens were back in place.

"Hey now! Don't go getting gloomy on me!" She made a silly face. "So now do we get to walk the dogs?" she clapped her hands, excited for her favorite part of the day.

He chuckled and nodded, letting her gather up the leashes and begin clipping them to collars. She glanced over her shoulder as he carefully returned the canary to its cage, apologizing quietly to it for having to do so as he did every day.

"You don't like it do you?" she asked.

"Eh?"

"Animals in cages, that is."

He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "No, it's not a pretty sight to me. I keep them here because I know it's safer for them than out there where they could get hit by a car or fall pretty to malicious children, but I wish I didn't have to." He joined her, taking some of the leashes.

"Hmm. Hey, instead of the zoo, do you want to do something else?" she offered.

"Like what?"

She thought it over for a moment then an idea struck her and she jumped up and down for a moment, clapping. "Oh! I know! We could go camping! We could stargaze and birdwatch and even toast marshmallows!"

He threw his head back and gave another deep laugh and Yuzuriha wished as soon as it ended that he would laugh again. "Alright kiddo, if that's what you wanna do." He grinned and ruffled her hair.

Side by side they walked out into the city.

.

.

Kamui squinted at the equations on the board and tried his hardest to make them look less like squiggles and more like something meaningful. The fact that he was still drenched and cold from the unexpected rainstorm on his way to school though wasn't helping his concentration. He resisted the urge to slam his head on the desk and groan, determined to make it through the rest of the period. Before he knew it though, his eyelids began to droop and a heavy feeling settled over him.

He was lying on the ground; he knew that before he even opened his eyes as he could feel the concrete pressing into each of his vertebrae. Rain splashed cold against his cheeks, stinging one of them painfully and he remembered that it was cut and hoped that the acidic water would not cause it to become infected. Cold metal was against his palm, a strange icy burn against his skin and he clutched at the hilt of the sword, pulling it closer like a child would clutch at a teddy bear for comfort. The sound of flapping material over him suddenly caught his attention and his eyes flew open just in time to see the blade come down.

_I wish…._

Suddenly the bell rang and he leapt out of his seat, accidentally overturning it in the process and blushing when most of the class, the teacher included gave him strange looks. He mumbled an apology and pulled the chair back to its normal position with a frustrated sigh.

"Are you okay, Kamui-kun?" Kotori came up beside him.

"Um, yeah, the bell just… startled me is all." He blushed and looked away from her inquisitive eyes.

"Kotori-chan?" a voice from the doorway came over the chatter of the other students.

"Over here, Daisuke-kun!" she called, waving to the brown haired boy, who promptly made his way over and offered her a small box.

"I know White Day isn't until tomorrow, but since it's the weekend, I thought I would go ahead and give this to you today."

Kamui started and watched her pull away the wrapping paper, complimenting the way he'd tied a neat little pink bow on it.

"Oh Daisuke! These are lovely!" Kotori pulled out two little barrettes with small white birds on the ends of each and promptly pulled part of her hair back with them. "What do you think?"

Kamui's eyes widened slightly.

"They suit you, or at least I think so." Daisuke smiled. "I'm sorry I didn't make you something in return, but I did want to thank you for the chocolates."

Kamui slid off the desk and wandered out of the room to eat his lunch alone. He didn't really want to hear the rest of the conversation.

That afternoon he walked home from school alone as Sorata had rushed off to say something to Arashi (who Kamui was glad at least to see was around after all and seemed to be doing fine) and Yuzuriha said something about dog walking and ran off in the opposite direction as well.

It was still raining and by the time he got home, Kamui was completely soaked and shivering from cold. He let himself into the apartment with the spare key Subaru had given him, grateful to get inside. He couldn't help but feel yet another pang of intrusion though when he realized Subaru and Seishirou were both asleep on the couch, curled up close together, looking as though they had both decided to take a nap after work.

Kamui quietly tiptoed past them and into the bathroom where he turned the water on as hot as he could get it and stood directly under it so that he could pretend it was only water running down his cheeks.

When he finally pulled himself together, he turned the water back off and dried off before settling down at the kitchen table, intending to start his homework. He sighed as he realized that the rain had soaked into his book bag and smeared some of the ink in his textbook, making it difficult to read the explanation of the material he had slept through earlier.

A knock on the doorway distracted him from his attempt at discerning the writing and he looked up to see Subaru watching him with a concerned expression.

"You okay Kamui?"

He nodded, not trusting himself to keep it together long enough to tell Subaru that Kotori had moved on without him around.

"Need some help with your homework?"

"A little bit."

Subaru pulled a chair up next to him and looked over his shoulder. "Oh math… that was never my strongest subject. I wonder if I remember this."

Seishirou suddenly popped up behind him.

"Oh factorials! These are easy once you get the hang of them!" he informed Kamui who tried unsuccessfully to repress a shudder. "I can help you with your homework tonight if you want!"

"He does know this stuff better than I do." Subaru pointed out, and rose, leaving the chair to Seishirou who promptly sat down and began explaining the material to Kamui.

After all that happened that day, Kamui decided at the end that the worst part was that Seishirou's explanations actually did help.

.

_Author's note: Okay so I confess, I do totally think a threesome between Seishirou/Subaru/Kamui would be hot but also funny. XD I will not put it in this story but will consider actually writing it if anyone out there actually wants to read it. :P_


	7. Aquarium

_Author's Note: I'm sorry this chapter took longer to put up guys. ^^; Had more hours at work than usual. But it's a little longer than usual so maybe that'll make up for it? Hopefully? Ah well, anyway, here it is! Chapter 7! In which Nataku builds a Lego fort!_

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_

He was there again.

Satsuki watched him in the reflection of one of her monitors as he spun in a lazy circle in one of her office chairs.

_God help him if he breaks something._ She thought to herself and tried once more to focus on the screen in front of her. After a few moments of distraction, she finally turned the chair around to face him.

"Why are you here?"

"Hmmm." He drew it out to accommodate a full turn of the chair. "Because?" he asked, coming to a stop facing her.

She stared at him.

"Does it bother you?" He leaned back in the chair, slouched against it.

"No."

"Then does it matter?"

She didn't say anything but felt the irritation building at the back of her mind. No, it shouldn't matter. So why did she want to know? She turned her back to him and pretended to get back to work.

"Hey can I ask something?" He pulled his chair up next to her.

"What?"

"Why did you hack into our system that time?"

"Does it bother you?" she glanced at him.

"Eh? Well no, not exactly…"

"Then it doesn't matter." She replied, not skipping a beat.

He laughed and she gritted her teeth, wishing that it were a little musical a laugh, and that his hair did fall in quite such an appealing way over his forehead when he moved and that his eyes didn't have quite as cheerful a glint to them.

"Hey, don't get me wrong, your place is pretty awesome, but do you ever leave it?" He asked, propping his chin up with his hands.

"Obviously. I met you at Duklyon didn't I?"

"Sure but that was what, twenty or thirty minutes? I meant like do you ever go out and have fun?"

She frowned. "I leave when it's necessary. There isn't much else out there that interests me."

"Seriously? Well damn. I was going to see if you wanted to go somewhere with me."

She wished he would look just a little less genuinely disappointed.

"Like where?"

He shrugged. "I dunno, just somewhere other than this freezing room of yours." He thought for a moment. "Oh I have an idea!"

She sighed and pushed back from the computer. This wasn't going anywhere anyway. "Fine."

"Eh? Really?"

"Sure."

He jumped up and held out a hand to her. "Alright then! Let's go!"

.

.

"_This was a kind of complicated lab. Maybe we should meet up this weekend to work on the lab report."_

Tooru took a deep breath and smiled as she remembered Saya's shy response.

"_Sure. There's a bakery near my house we could meet up at if you want." She nervously adjusted her protective goggles._

Tooru sighed. How could someone possibly look that adorable in chemistry goggles? She could feel her heart speed up a little just at the memory.

In truth, she had finished the lab report in less than an hour but she wanted to see her again. She smiled down at the coffee she had ordered, imagining that the ripples in it were really the younger girl's hair.

"I'm sorry I'm late!" Saya called breathlessly, scooting into the seat across from her.

Tooru shook her head reassuringly. "No, you're about ten minutes early actually, I just got here a little early myself." She wasn't about to admit that she had been there for twenty minutes already, just in case Saya did show up ahead of time.

The girl blushed. "Still, I made you wait, I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Tooru smiled warmly. "About the lab though…"

Saya's blush deepened. "Oh, I actually finished it already." She looked down at the checkered table and pushed her hair back behind her ear. "But I can help you if you need it…"

Tooru laughed softly. "No. I finished it already too actually."

"Oh."

There was a long silence in which they both tried not to look at one another but kept catching each other's eyes as they attempted to sneak peeks. At last Tooru laughed. "Well then, do you want to go do something together today?" She clutched her hands under the table, hoping for a yes.

Saya's eyes lit up and Tooru's heart swelled at the sight of the sparkle that appeared in those baby blues. "Sure! What would you like to do?"

"There's an aquarium not far from here. I go there some days just to relax, would you like to go there with me?"

Saya agreed and they set off together, joking about their class all the way.

In the tropical fish room, a man in a pink suit and white overcoat was chatting with a less than responsive young woman with glasses. The man gave them a brief appraising glance then smiled and asked if the woman he was with wanted to go see the dolphin exhibit. They left the room and for a while the two girls had it all to themselves.

Saya was immediately drawn to the window showing the most brightly colored fish in the room. She stood with her fingertips pressed to the glass, enthralled by them while Tooru stood a little further back, enthralled by Saya herself. There was something enchanting about the childlike wonder she sometimes displayed. Saya began naming the fish and giggled as a few wandered closer to the glass, seeming as fascinated by her as she was by them. With the light shifting in wandering webs over her white skirt and skin and her hair falling in its graceful waves over her back and shoulders, Saya could have passed as a mermaid, Tooru thought, imagining the fish swimming out of the tank to flit about her playfully.

She drew closer and placed a hand on the tank several inches away from where Saya's slender fingers splayed over the glass. It was hard to tell in the wane and distorted light, but she thought thought she caught sight of a faint rosy blush rising to Saya's cheeks.

Two striped fish with gauzy fins seemed to suddenly take notice of one another and one flitted behind a twisting bit of coral, the other following and pausing when the other disappeared from its sight. It cautiously peeked around the coral and jumped back with surprise when the other fish suddenly swam out at it. Tooru slid her hand over just slightly. The two fish started up a game of tag and she could almost hear gurgly giggles among the trail of whimsical bubbles they created. She slid her hand over just enough that the edges of their pinkies were touching and in the corner of her eye she saw Saya glance at her but she didn't move. One of the fish finally caught up with the other and they swam in a small circle as if they were dancing and the gauzy fins became fine ball gowns, skirts swaying around one another, a kind of poetry in motion. Tooru brushed her hand over Saya's without looking over at her and felt her heart drop when Saya moved it, then soar again when she flipped it over to entwine her fingers with Tooru's. The two fish stopped their dance but never stopped their motion, this time merely swimming away to a distant part of the tank, side by side.

They continued to hold hands against the glass and to Tooru it felt like falling into warm water.

.

.

Kamui had spent all day every weekend and several afternoons after school searching for any sign of Fuuma. He had made himself sick once or twice from lack of sleep and wandering around in the cold, but he had since tried to avoid that as he felt bad when Subaru had patiently taken care of him. Subaru never questioned or chastised him for it and Kamui was pretty sure he never would, but still, he didn't want to take advantage. When Subaru first asked him to join them to the dinner party, Kamui declined, thinking that he could spend some more time searching but when the forecast threatened hail and heavy rains that night he reluctantly changed his mind.

Karen greeted all of them with a hug, even though it was the first time she had ever met Kamui. Though he knew she did it to everyone, Kamui couldn't help but feel some relief at the maternal warmth she radiated and he remembered why he always liked Karen. He smiled, noticing that their home was decorated in rich reds and golds accentuated by numerous candles and a crackling fireplace. She might not still be a fire mistress like before, but that didn't appear to have quelled her affinity for it.

"So what is your name again? Sorry I didn't quite hear." Seiichiro asked, walking out of the kitchen, carrying a little girl with white-blonde hair.

"Um Kamui..."

"He's my cousin-" Subaru started.

"What? I don't remember ever meeting him." A female voice from behind him demanded.

Kamui turned although her hair was a bit longer and she was very distinctly feminine, not to mention dressed like a J-pop star, it was the bright green eyes that tipped him off immediately that she was Subaru's sister.

"Hokuto-chan!" Seishirou quickly stepped in and distracted her.

Kakyou had walked in behind her, carrying a bottle of wine which Karen gratefully took and led him into the kitchen. As he followed her though Kamui noticed Kakyou glance over his shoulder and give him a strange look. He wondered about it briefly then felt a tug on the edge of his shirt and looked down to see a young boy he immediately recognized. It was strange though, seeing him this small and innocent-looking. Not that Nataku had ever been particularly menacing but all the same.

"Oni-chan?" the little boy prompted.

"Uh yeah?"

"Are you a friend of mommy's?" he asked, wide violet eyes locked on Kamui.

"No, Subaru is and I live with him right now." Kamui explained.

Nataku tilted his head slightly. "Then how come I know you?"

Kamui's eyes widened and he looked up to glance at Subaru but realized they were the only two in the room. "You know me?" he asked, looking back down.

"I think so… or I think I know someone named 'Kamui'." His eyes suddenly glazed over in confusion. "I don't know… I don't remember anymore."

"Maybe you just knew somebody else with the same name." Kamui evasively suggested.

Nataku looked away with a small frown then shook his head and returned his gaze to Kamui with a shy smile. "Well then can we be friends?"

There was something utterly absurd about meeting a person who months ago was part of a group that was trying to destroy the world and was now a small child, asking to be your friend.

"Um, I guess."

"Then come on, I wanna show you my legos!" Nataku grabbed his hand and led him through the living room, where everyone else had gathered.

"Nataku, sweetie, what are you doing?" Karen asked as he walked past the couch, still dragging Kamui.

"I'm going to show my new friend my legos!" Nataku informed her.

"Oh honey, let Kamui sit in here with us…"

"But…"

"It's okay." Kamui shrugged. He nodded at Karen. "I don't mind, really." He really didn't know what he would be able to say among the adults. At least Nataku seemed to have a plan in mind.

The little girl Seiichiro had been carrying hopped down from his lap on the couch and toddled after them. "Me too!" she cried and Nataku held out his other hand for her, waiting patiently for her to catch up before leading her and Kamui both into a play room strewn with toys.

Nataku settled down by a pile of legos and Kamui sank to his knees beside him, listening as Nataku chattered away aliens and dinosaurs and how they needed a fortress to defend themselves against the attacking robot army. Kamui helped him construct said fortress, handing him the colored plastic blocks one at a time as Nataku carefully analyzed his structure to see where each piece belonged. The little girl suddenly wandered up to them both, clutching a worn stuffed animal and watched them, silently sucking her thumb.

"That's a nice teddy bear." Kamui said at long last, hoping she didn't feel left out.

Her eyes grew rounder and she pulled the thumb out of her mouth to hold it up to him. "His name is Paul!" she announced, peering shyly around the teddy bear to peek at him.

Kamui smiled and patted the bear. "That's a cool name."

She beamed up at him.

"You have no idea how much you have just endeared yourself to her." Seiichiro chuckled from the doorway. "Dinner's about ready, if you want to join them in the dining room, Kamui. As for you guys-" he picked up the little girl. "It's bedtime."

Nataku groaned. "Do we hafta?"

"Afraid so, kiddo." Seiichiro reached down with a free hand to ruffle his hair.

The boy pouted for a moment then grabbed Kamui's arm and looked up at him with hopeful eyes. "Will you come over and play again sometime Oni-chan?"

"Yeah!" the girl added around her thumb.

Seiichiro laughed. "They seem to have both taken a liking to you. I don't suppose you'd be willing to babysit once in a while?"

"Oh…" Kamui hesitated, thinking this would give him less time to look for Fuuma, then caught sight of the pleading looks the kids were both giving him. "I guess so."

"Eh? Really? I was kidding but if you're willing, we could use someone to look after them once in a while…" Seiichiro gently pulled his glasses out of the girl's hands as she took them off and tried to put them on herself.

Kamui shrugged. "Sure, why not."

"Wow! Thanks!" He directed Kamui to the dining room before disappearing down the hallway to put Nataku and Kazuki to bed.

Kamui returned to where the adults all were and took a seat next to Subaru who quickly explained that the others there he didn't recognize were work friends of Karen's and Seiichiro's. Kamui nodded and tried to keep up with the many conversations going on around him, letting himself get lost in the jovial banter of the evening.

The night wore on and some of the guests left, leaving only Kamui, Subaru, Seishirou, Hokuto and Kakyou.

Kamui laughed as he watched Seishirou and Hokuto team up to tease Subaru about the time he fell out of a tree trying to rescue a cat when he was a teenager then noticed out of the corner of his eye that Kakyou was watching him, with what looked like an intentionally set black expression. Kamui started to ask about it but Kakyou quickly turned and struck up a conversation with Karen. Kamui tried to brush it off and turned back to the twins and Seishirou who were now animatedly telling Seiichiro about the time they had all tried learning how to ski. Kamui smiled but was beginning to feel a little bit like an extra again so he excused himself from the table and wandered out onto the covered patio he had passed by earlier.

He took a deep breath, once outside, watching the hail pound the sidewalk, scattering pieces of ice and suddenly he was overwhelmed, reminded of a time shards of glass had scattered around him like that. He shuddered and closed his eyes, willing the image to go away when he heard someone walk up beside him. He looked over, expecting to see Subaru but was surprised when it was Kakyou instead, staring out at the hail himself.

"Is Subaru looking for me?" Kamui asked, wondering why Kakyou had followed him out.

The blond man shook his head. "No, I just wanted a chance to talk to you alone."

"Oh… why?"

Kakyou turned to look him in the eye. "I wanted to thank you."

"Huh? For what?" Kamui tried to remember what he could have possibly said or done this evening that could have benefitted him.

"For making that wish."

Kamui froze. "You… remember?"

Kakyou shook his head slowly. "No, but I've dreamed about it. I used to think they were just imaginative dreams until I saw you show up tonight with Subaru and Seishirou." He paused. "I used to be a dreamseer didn't I?"

Kamui nodded.

"I thought so. What about the other Kamui? Is he here too?" Kakyou inquired.

Kamui crossed his arms, pulling them in close to his body. "I don't know. I haven't been able to find him."

Kakyou contemplated this for a while, watching as the hail slowed down and gradually relaxed into pouring rain. "Maybe… he doesn't want to be found."

"But why?" Kamui half-whined, feeling ashamed even as the words left his mouth.

"Not all wishes can be granted; some contradict one another." Kakyou sighed. "There's no way for everyone to be happy."

Kamui started, remember the time that Subaru had told him the same thing. "What do you mean?"

Before Kakyou could answer, Subaru stuck his head out of the patio door. "Hey Kamui? Are you ready to go? Seishirou and I were going to head out before it starts to hail again."

"Um, yeah, I'm coming." He reluctantly began to head inside.

"Kamui?" Kakyou called softly.

Kamui paused.

"As I said before, it seems like it's important for you to hear…"

Kamui glanced over his shoulder. "What is?"

"Thank you."

.

_I looved writing that Tooru/Saya scene. It's just so pretty in my head. ^-^ And I always found Nataku adorable as it was, the cuteness of a sixish year old Nataku is just too much. _


	8. Dance

_Author's Note: Sorry this chapter is a little shorter ^^; Alas. But I had a little trouble with this one. I'm past where I had actually sort of outlined the story to so at this point I'm working things out as I go, apologies if it takes longer to upload! Anyway, here's Chapter 8! In which Kamui and Kotori dance!  
_

_.  
_

It had been two months since Kamui had arrived and still Kotori had not worked up the courage to tell him about her dream.

She sighed and glanced over at him, watching him diligently take notes as the teacher spoke and briefly wished she was as studious as him. She loved the way his eyebrows drew together and his amethyst eyes half vanished behind a veil of dark lashes when he was lost in concentration. His mouth had formed a small moue and she wondered what it would be like if he were to kiss her with those pouty little lips… She shook her head, embarrassed that she had even thought that.

Besides, it didn't seem like that was very likely anyway. She had the feeling he had been avoiding her for the past couple of weeks and every time she spoke to him, his answers were short and he seemed to get away as quickly as he could. Then again, she could swear she could feel him watching her from time to time. And he always looked so sad when he found some excuse to get away from her. Kotori didn't know what to make of it all. She had realized that in her dream she had fallen in love with Kamui, but it never said anything about him falling for her too. She wondered if she was destined for unrequited love, but preferred to not give up hope just yet.

At long last history class came to an end and Kotori breathed a sigh of relief. She could only take so much more hearing about the Meiji revolution; she wasn't one for violence or disagreements, even those that were already over.

"Okay class. Time to discuss what we're going to do for the school arts festival. Any suggestions?"

"Bake sale?"

"No, that's so unoriginal."

"How about a play?"

"I think class 5-A is doing that already."

"Yeah but theirs is going to be a drama, maybe we could do like a comedy?"

A student politely raised her hand.

"Yes Rika?"

"Didn't you used to teach ballroom dancing Terada-sensei?"

The teacher blushed. "Um, yes, why?"

"Maybe you could teach all of us and we could give lessons that day."

"Yeah" echoed around the room as the students all nodded in agreement.

The teacher blushed more deeply. "Well if you guys think it would be successful."

"Of course it would- we have Kotori!" someone blurted out.

"Yeah, all the boys would love a chance to dance with her."

"And the girls would love a chance to dance with Kamui. For someone who hasn't been here that long, he sure is popular." Another girl winked in his direction, causing Kamui to jump and blush as well.

"All right, all right." Terada interrupted them. "Shall we do ladders to choose dance partners for the lessons?"

Everyone agreed that this was probably the best idea and turned around while he drew the diagram on the front board. "Okay!" He announced, signaling that it was ready. Sheets of paper had been taped over the bottom of the board. "Each has a number under it." He explained. Whoever has your matching number will be your dance partner. Unfortunately, because there are an odd number of students, one person will just have me as a partner, so whoever gets number one, see me.

One by one, he called the students up and let them choose their numbers, announcing them as they went so as to find their partners. Rika blushed as she uncovered the number one and Terada looked away quickly, blushing as well. Soon it was Kotori's turn and she pulled back the paper to uncover a small seven. No one had found the other one yet, so she waited on the side of the room as Kamui made his way to the board. He pulled back his number and stared at it for a moment, without calling it out until Terada looked over his shoulder.

"Oh Kotori just drew seven; you're with her then." He gave Kamui a light push toward the side of the room.

She gave him a warm smile. "So we're dance partners then? That's great!"

"Um… yeah." He weakly agreed.

Once everyone had their partners, the students asked the teacher if he could go ahead and start showing them some basic steps that afternoon. He agreed and they pushed aside the desks to form a large space in the center of the room and Terada and Rika stood in the center so that he could show them how to properly hold one's dance partner.

Kamui blushed furiously as he placed one hand on her waist, his touch so light she almost couldn't feel it, as if he were trying not to. Kotori was happy though to take his hand in hers and was surprised by how soft his was. She rested her other hand on his shoulder, wishing for a moment that she could raise it to brush his cheek or run her fingers through those silky looking locks. She wondered if they were as soft as his hands were too.

They tried to follow the teacher's instructions as best they could, but they were both new to dancing and with a crowded room full of inexperienced students there were a great deal of slip-ups and at one point another couple bumped into them unexpectedly, sending Kotori crashing straight into Kamui's chest. He caught her before she could topple over but when she looked up, he was blushing furiously and murmured a rushed apology. She shook her head and blushed herself. "No, thank you." A couple of students had begun to look their way and whisper and she wondered why briefly before returning her focus to the dance lesson.

At last the bell rang, signaling the end of the school day and Kamui immediately withdrew, looking both relieved and sad again. Kotori watched him quickly gather up his belongings and bolt from the room, feeling a little sad as she had hoped to walk home with him that day.

She sighed in disappointment and walked home alone as Saya was still at the chemistry lab. She briefly wondered why it had been taking her sister so much longer to do her labs than usual but brushed the thought off, assuming that they were just harder this year.

That night she dreamed of Kamui again.

Two Kamui actually, one with white feathery wings like an angel's and one with black leathery ones like a demon's.

"Choose one of us." They told her, standing before identical swords.

"Why? One for what?" She asked, clutching a hand to her heart.

"One to live, and one to die." They answered again in unison.

Kotori's eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat. "What? I could never…"

"Choose!" They commanded and Kotori flinched.

"Is this a test? To see if I can find the real Kamui?" She inquired, remembering a fairytale with something along these lines.

"Choose!" They repeated.

She looked between them, frightened then took a step toward the one with the feathery wings. Surely the angel had to be Kamui… He flashed her a smile that she knew was too sinister to be the Kamui she knew and she quickly backed away with a gasp, terrified of the sinister intent behind those curled lips.

"Him." She pointed to the other more hesitantly, telling herself it was okay, it was just a dream, it was just a dream, just a dream, a dream…

The two suddenly drew the swords and flew at one another, sparks flying as the blades crossed and steel clashed with steel.

"No!" She screamed and the one with the feathered wings glanced at her. Suddenly his face grew more angled, and his hair more spiky and his eyes faded from rich amethyst to a dark gold…

"Oni-"

She jerked awake, her hair falling in a curtain around her face as she bent her head into her hands to cry, heavy sobs wracking her body. It was several moments before she realized she had no idea why she was crying.

.

.

"Onee-saaaaan"

She narrowed her eyes.

"I made you a bento today!" Sorata popped up beside her, triumphantly holding up the box, open to display the rice molded into a ridiculous heart shape.

She looked between him and the box silently.

"I was hoping we could run lines for the play while eating it!"

Okay, he had her there. She did need to practice, as embarrassed as she was to be putting on a puppet show in high school. She followed him over to one of the picnic tables and sat down, pulling out her script. She began reading off the first line, then waited for him to continue, glancing up at him after he didn't say anything.

"Aren't you going to eat?" he asked, cheerfully pushing the bento toward her.

"No."

He pouted childishly. "Buuut. It's good, I promise, I got Yuzu-chan to taste test it for me this morning."

She refused again.

"Oh, did you bring your own lunch you would rather eat?"

"No."

"Eh? Are you just not going to eat lunch then at all?"

"I did not plan to." She replied simply, returning her attention to the script.

He gasped dramatically then leaned forward, a hand next to his mouth and a serious look on his face. "You aren't anorexic are you miss?"

She jerked back. "What? No!"

"It's okay, I won't tell anyone!" He placed a hand heavily on her shoulder in what she guessed was meant to be a reassuring gesture.

In annoyance she grabbed the bento box and deliberately took a bite, then paused and looked back down at the food, stunned. She had expected an idiot like him to mess it up but this was actually quite good. Her thoughts were interrupted though by him shoving his face in front of her again and asking how it was.

"It's fine." She replied coldly. "Now, let's run through the lines like we planned."

She tried to focus on the script but found herself absently reaching for the bento from time to time and she tried to ignore his triumphant smiles every time she did so.

.

.

When he got home, Subaru and Kamui were sitting at the kitchen table, laughing and joking about their days.

The kid opened up a lot more to Subaru than he did to anyone else, Seishirou reflected, hanging up his coat. But then, that wasn't all that surprising; Subaru had always had a way of inadvertently making people open up to and trust him. No, what surprised Seishirou, not to mention irked him, was how Subaru had opened up to the kid. He didn't think he had ever seen Subaru even talk that much to his sister despite their obvious closeness. He made his way to the bathroom to shower away the smell of the hospital that always clung to his clothes and body after a surgery.

Seishirou hated the concept of jealousy, at least when applied to himself. Jealousy meant the power of one individual to hold something another individual wanted out of reach, giving them some sort of control. It didn't matter whether they knew it or not, and Subaru clearly fell into the latter category. It was irrational, Seishirou thought, letting the scent of soap and water cover and shoo away the smell of antiseptics. It wasn't as if he wanted Subaru to sit and chat with him like that. He didn't want Subaru to be protective of him the way he seemed to be of Kamui. He didn't want that friendly smile to be directed at him. So what was there to be jealous of?

_Attention._ A voice whispered at the back of his mind.

He debated the verity of that suggestion as he toweled off. No, that was perhaps part of it, but that wasn't the main reason he was jealous, he concluded and was pleased to find that Subaru had already gotten into bed and was reading when he stepped out of the shower.

"There are still leftovers if you're hungry." Subaru offered. "I guess the surgery ran longer than expected?"

"There were complications." And yes, he was hungry, in a sense. He crossed the room quickly and pulled the book out of Subaru's hands, to the younger man's surprise.

_I don't want your protection._

He gripped Subaru's wrists, pushing him back down on the bed and holding them in place above his head firmly.

_I don't want your chitchat._

"Seishi-"

He cut off the name with a fierce kiss, leaving the younger man breathless.

_I don't want your friendly smile._

When he pulled away to move down to the pulse in his neck, Seishirou was pleased to see a look of desire spark in those green eyes. He pressed his lips to Subaru's pulse and was also pleased to feel his heart rate speed up along with his breath.

_I don't want your attention._

Subaru squirmed, trying to get closer to him, but Seishirou gripped his wrists tighter, knowing it would leave a bruise the next morning. He smiled at the thought of marking Subaru as his own.

_I want you._

.

_Kudos to anyone who recognizes Rika and Terada. :P_


	9. Ghost Story

_Author's Note: Yay Chapter 9! In which Kazuki gets a Hello Kitty Band-Aid!_

_.  
_

Karen and Seiichiro were both working late that Thursday afternoon so Kamui found himself called upon to watch Nataku and Kazuki, as he'd learned the girl's name was.

When he had arrived, Nataku had informed him in a hushed voice that Kazuki was taking a nap so they had to be quiet. Kamui nodded in acknowledgement and agreement, even though he knew the little girl was down the hallway in her own bedroom with the door closed so speaking normally out here would have most likely been fine.

"Hey! Can we build a blanket fort onii-chan?" Nataku whispered excitedly.

Kamui shrugged. "Sure." He replied softly, wondering why he too was keeping his voice unnecessarily low.

"Awesome!" Nataku disappeared into his bedroom for a moment and when Kamui glanced in behind him he saw the boy pulling all of the blankets and sheets off of his bed. "The living room is best cuz it has couches and stuff we can put the blankets on." He told Kamui matter-of-factly. He carried his bundle of blankets into the other room and began tucking the edge of a blanket under the cushion before vanishing into the dining room and returning with a chair to drape it over.

Kamui joined him, unfurling the sheets and fondly remembering the times he, Kotori, and Fuuma had done this together as children. He frowned to himself, wondering again where Fuuma was now.

"What's the matter onii-chan?" Nataku leaned over from the armchair he had been tucking another blanket onto to peer at Kamui over a sheet that was hanging between them.

Kamui started, having forgotten about the boy for a moment. "Oh… nothing."

"Oh, well then can you hand me that blanket with the stars on it?" Nataku paused. "Oh- please? I almost forgot the magic word."

Kamui smiled and helped him place the rest of the blankets he had gathered, tying the corner of the last sheet to a bar stool.

The both stood in front of their creation to admire it. Nataku put his hands on his waist. "It's almost perfect!" He declared and Kamui tried not to chuckle as he watched the blankets sag in a haphazard mess across the room.

"Almost?"

"Yep. But it's missing something."

"What's that?"

"Us!" Nataku grabbed Kamui's hand and dropped to his knees to crawl under the blankets.

"Now what" Kamui asked, adjusting a sheet so that it didn't hang in his face as he crouched next to Nataku.

"Now we tell ghost stories!" Nataku announced. "Oh but wait… he ran out of the fort and a moment later the lights went out and Kamui poked his head out of the blankets.

"Nataku?"

A little light came on and the boy's face was lit by a flashlight. "Yeah?"

"Oh okay." Kamui realized what he was doing and settled back into the fort with him.

Nataku began animatedly recounting a tale of a ghost that haunted the playground at school, including his own shadow puppets, lit by the flashlight. "And that's the bear that ate her." Nataku informed Kamui, indicating the shapeless blob that his small hands had created.

"I see." Kamui nodded seriously.

"It ran away from the circus you see. It was scared of clowns."

"Clowns are pretty scary." Kamui agreed.

A soft scuffling sound came from down the hallway.

"Intruders!" Nataku whispered and stuck his head out of the fort to shine the flashlight down the hallway. Kamui looked around him.

"Onii-chan?" A small voice wavered with fear.

"Over here Kazuki, follow the light." Nataku called to her soothingly.

The little girl hesitantly toddled over toward them but unable to see very well, she tripped over a part of the blanket and fell. Kamui hurried over to pick her up as she began to cry and turned on the living room lights to see that she had a small scrape on her knee. He carried her into the bathroom and cleaned it up, putting a hello kitty printed Band-Aid on it. Soon she was smiling up at him again from behind the bear she always carried. He patted her head and helped her down off the counter, holding her hand as they walked back into the living room.

A part of the sheet had torn on the rough edge of the barstool that had cut Kazuki's knee and Nataku was holding up the stray strip of it with a strange expression on his face.

"I'm sorry Nataku, maybe your mom can sew it back together?" Kamui knelt beside him.

Nataku looked over at him and Kamui suddenly felt unsettled by the distant look in the boy's eyes.

"It's okay." He replied, his voice sounding far away and strangely older than his six years.

"Look, onii-chan! Hello Kitty!" Kazuki happily stuck her leg out for Nataku to see the Band-Aid, pulling him back into the moment.

"Cool! Hey, come on, we still have ghost stories to tell!" He dragged Kamui and Kazuki both back into the blankets.

Kamui settled across from the boy again and Nataku rearranged some pillows for himself to sit on. Kazuki stood, looking at them both as the covers brushed across the top of her white blonde head, clinging to a few pale strands of hair. She gave Kamui a shy look then, much to his surprise, settled into his lap, sticking her thumb back in her mouth and leaning a head against his chest contently. Not knowing what else to do with them, Kamui loosely wrapped his arms around her and waited patiently for Nataku to begin his next story.

"Once upon a time, there was a man who looked like a lot of different people. It depended on who looked at him what they saw." Nataku began and Kamui frowned, his thoughts sliding back to Fuuma.

"To one little girl, he looked like her father, and she decided to stay with him for that reason."

Kamui sat up a little straighter, wondering now where Nataku had heard this story.

"Then the little girl found a person who looked like her mother. But the man with the changing faces wanted to kill the woman because he wanted to hurt the person with the same name as him. The little girl didn't want the woman to die though, so she protected her. But the man who looked like her daddy killed her instead."

Silence echoed through the room, as Kamui scrambled for something to say.

"S'not a ghost." Kazuki pointed out around her thumb.

"Huh?"

"Has to be a ghost." She added.

"Oh, the little girl didn't become a ghost." Nataku answered.

"Where'd she go?" Kazuki questioned.

Nataku hesitated. "I don't know…"

The front door suddenly opened, startling all three of them.

"Daddy!" Kazuki slid out of Kamui's lap and crawled out of the blanket fort to run straight into Seiichiro's open arms as he knelt down waiting for her.

Kamui disentangled himself from the sheets and watched as Aoki picked her up and kissed her forehead, asking her if she had been a good girl and if she had had fun.

"Sorry about the mess." He added sheepishly when Aoki looked up at him.

"Oh it's fine." He smiled and reached down to stroke Nataku's hair as the boy wrapped his arms around his leg. "Nataku loves building forts, in case you haven't guessed by now."

The boy grinned up at him. "Hey daddy can we sleep in here tonight? It'll be like camping!"

"Not tonight, kiddo, but how about this weekend?"

"Kay!"

Kamui began taking down the blankets and folding them neatly.

"Thank you for watching them." Aoki helped him clean up and saw Kamui off after handing him a couple of bills.

Kamui walked home silently, thinking over what Nataku had said. Did he remember? He wondered. Or was it just at the back of his mind?

"_Where'd she go then?"_

Kamui remembered Nataku's funeral and how Karen had wept for him as he were her own.

"_Daddy!"_

Well at least Aoki wasn't going to kill either of them. Kamui couldn't decide whether to be happy that Nataku was safe this time around or concerned that he remembered such a violent previous life.

When he got home, he told Subaru about what happened as he helped him prepare dinner.

He paused in cutting up the carrots.

"Hey Subaru? If you and I remember and Kakyou's dreamed about what happened and Nataku's got some sort of vague memories… do you think the others do too?"

Subaru shrugged and pushed back his sleeves to wash some cabbage. "I dunno. It's possible. Have any of them acted unusual like Nataku did?"

Kamui didn't answer for a moment, staring at the faint bruises on Subaru's wrists.

_Message received._ He thought with an angry glare, then turned back to the carrot, chopping a little more furiously now. "No, none of them have acted strange."

"Then maybe they don't remember anything. Nataku's a kid, they tend to be really sensitive to the supernatural. You remember because it was you who made the wish in the first place. I think I only remember because I figured out what your wish was and I was right there when you made it. And Kakyou of course was a dreamseer so maybe some residual bit of that power slipped into him in this world?"

Kamui thought about this for a moment. "Kotori…"

"What about her?"

"She used to be a dreamseer too. Or had dreamseer abilities… Do you think she might remember too? Or dream about it?"

"It's in the realm of possibility."

Kamui recalled the day he had arrived at school and the look of surprise and recognition she had shot him but before he could tell Subaru about it, Seishirou entered the kitchen.

"I thought something smelled great when I walked in!" He smiled, checking the pot where some of the vegetables were already boiling. "Shall I lend a hand?"

Kamui reached past him to dump the carrots in, hoping they splashed him.

Seishirou gave him an amused look and stepped away to stand behind Subaru at the sink, wrapping his arms around him. He lightly ran his fingertips down Subaru's arms and over his wrists before helping him rinse the leaves, making sure Kamui saw.

Kamui glared and turned away to set the table. Why did Subaru have to like an abusive jerk like him?

_All he's done is leave a couple of bruises on his wrists. Fuuma pinned you to the wall with a sword and broken glass._ A voice at the back of Kamui's mind pointed out. _And yet you're still looking for him._

Kamui tried to push the thought away.

"_The man who looked like her daddy killed her instead."_

Kamui shuddered.

_No! That's not Fuuma! I have to find him, the real one, my old best friend._ He told himself.

"_Maybe… he doesn't want to be found."_

He rested a hand on the table by the glass he had just placed there.

_Is that true Fuuma? Do you not want me to find you? _He had to admit, it was beginning to look like it.

_But why?_

.

.

It was strange to feel this heavy and this weightless simultaneously, Satsuki thought to herself. Somehow or another Yuuto had discovered that although she had her own pool, she did not know how to swim. Oh, yes, that was right… He had wanted to take her to that water park as soon as it reopened when the weather was warm enough. When she had mentioned not knowing how to swim, hoping that would get her out of it, he had taken it upon himself to teach her.

She suspected it was just an excuse to use her pool but decided it did not really matter since it was not as if she used it herself.

Then again, here she was in it now, treading water. It had not been that hard to learn a few basic strokes and she certainly was not going to drown, but she still felt uncomfortable being in this much water.

"Do you learn everything that fast?" Yuuto questioned, floating lazily by on his back.

"Generally, yes." She wished she had her glasses, she didn't like the way things were blurred without them. Satsuki preferred her world to be clear cut.

"You really are a genius huh?"

Satsuki decided that was a stupid question and neither deserved nor needed answering. "How do you do that?"

"Hm? Float on your back?"

He never seemed to mind when she did not answer his questions. He never really seemed to mind anything. Satsuki wondered how he was able to so easily brush things off. It was as if insults slid off him like… like water.

"Here, I'll show you." He flipped over and made his way back toward her. "You just kind of lean back and let yourself float…"

She tried it but promptly began to sink and quickly put her feet back down on the solid, reassuring floor of the pool.

He shook his head. "You have to relax."

The next thing she knew his hand was on her back and another was reaching down behind her knees, lifting her easily.

"Just let the water carry you." He held her right at the surface of the water and she tried to relax but was distracted by how vulnerable she felt, lying on her back with him over her like that. Especially when she was already out of her element.

Yuuto noticed her tension. "It's alright. I've got you." He smiled at her reassuringly and she was surprised to find that her muscles were actually beginning to relax in response.

She closed her eyes, lay back and focused on the feeling of the water gently rolling under her and after a few moments she opened her eyes again to see that Yuuto had let go and she was floating on her own. She nearly panicked for a moment before she realized he was still close by, treading water next to her.

"See? Easy peasy."

"I think I have it now. Thank you."

He grinned then stretched out. She watched him swim a few laps himself as she practiced floating, rather enjoying the way his muscles flexed with each stroke…

At last he made his way back to her, chattering away about how she was going to love the water park. She listened absently, watching the water drip from wet tendrils of hair, wondering why with her dislike of water, she found that so damn attractive.

She jumped when he reached forward to brush a bit of her own hair that had gotten plastered damply to her cheek away. His fingers lingered for a moment and she decided to take advantage of the proximity and leaned forward, tasting the chlorine on his lips.

She had never kissed someone before. And she had never really planned to either, truth be told. She had never practiced it on teddy bears or her best friends or at silly parties with games like spin the bottle. But she had a feeling he'd be willing to teach her as they went along.

As usual, she was right.

.

_Never get involved in a land war in Asia and never argue with Satsuki. Both are losing battles._


	10. A Disappointing Day

_Author's Note: Almost all the other characters decided to take the day off while I wrote this chapter so it's almost entirely Sorata and Yuzuriha with a dash of Kusanagi and Daisuke. (In case you're wondering where the others went, the Aoki family is taking a family vacation to Disneyland. Subaru and Seishirou, well they have locked themselves in their room while Kamui is still out looking for Fuuma, supposing that they don't have to be as quiet then. Kotori is singing along to some of her favorite musical numbers while doing housework. Tooru and Saya are both at their respective homes, pretending to be doing homework but really doodling little hearts with each other's names in them. Yuuto and Satsuki are "swimming". Arashi is ill and Kakyou is asleep, trying to catch up on rest after an exhausting week of touring various fashion shows all over the country. Hokuto, for some unknown reason, is playing tennis. Evidently it's a hobby of hers, which I didn't know, did you?)_

_Oh and Fuuma's still at the North Pole, but don't worry, barring any polar bear attacks, you'll see him again come Christmastime. :P_

_But enough about all that, here's Chapter 10: In which Yuzu and Sora eat some skittles!_

_.  
_

Since the weather had been bad last weekend, Yuzuriha and Kusanagi had decided to move their camping trip to this weekend and it had gone really well, Yuzuriha thought. They had pitched a tent last night but wound up sleeping outside in their sleeping bags under the stars, naming all the constellations they could recognize, and making up a few of their own. She had brought Inuki along and he had slept contentedly between them all night long.

Now the puppy was trotting along happily with them, pausing once in a while to sniff at a particularly interesting log or burrow, quickly abandoning his investigations whenever Yuzuriha called for him to catch up. Kusanagi laughed as Inuki raced up to them, bouncing along at their ankles with his tongue lolling happily.

"He really is a good dog, isn't he?"

"He really is! And it's partly thanks to you!" Yuzuriha replied brightly.

"Nah, you two did most of the work." He paused and knelt to pat the dog on its head, giving him a scratch behind the ears for good measure. She beamed up at him as he stood back up.

They decided to sit down and rest for a while when they came to a rocky clearing not far off the path as it would probably be another hour or two before they reached Kusanagi's car and neither of them was in a rush to leave the fresh open air. Yuzuriha giggled as she watched Inuki yip after a sunshine yellow butterfly. She looked over at Kusanagi, enjoying his rumbling laugh as he watched the puppy as well.

"Hey, Kusanagi-san?

"Yeah Yuzu-chan?" he asked, having adopted Sorata's nickname for her.

"I've been… thinking about something for a while."

"Mm, what's that?" He pulled a few leftover crackers out of his backpack to toss toward a squirrel that had climbed partway down its tree to watch them curiously.

"I really like you."

Kusanagi froze, his hand still held out with the cracker in it before he could throw it.

"Is that alright?" She toyed with the drawstrings of her hoodie nervously.

After he didn't move for a moment, the squirrel got tired of waiting and darted forward to snatch away the cracker himself, dashing back to the tree as a barking Inuki noticed him.

"I can't tell you who to like or who not to like." He answered, rubbing the back of his neck.

Yuzuriha felt her heart sinking, knowing what was coming.

"But I'm a little old for you. Maybe you should spend more time with boys your age?" He suggested gently.

Yuzuriha hung her head. "Maybe."

He opened his mouth to say something else but she leapt up with a renewed smile. "Come on, we should get going before the sun sets! We know it gets cold up here when it gets dark remember? And it might be kinda hard to figure out where you parked without much light! So we should keep moving forward!" She shouldered her backpack once more and quickly set off down the path, staying just far enough in front of him that she wouldn't have to see his face. She didn't think she could take the pity or the apologetic looks right now.

.

.

Sorata sighed and picked at his croissant. She was late. And here he had been so excited to see Arashi on the weekend. Just a few more moments with her than those precious couple he got each day at school would be heaven. Anything to help him uncover another hidden layer of that mysterious beauty.

He had asked her to join him at Duklyon to run lines and he was thinking about seeing if he could coax her into seeing a movie with him afterward, or maybe just going for a walk in the park. SOMETHING he could count as a first date.

He was still contemplating what would be the best first date idea to suggest when the door of the bakery opened and Daisuke walked in, looked around and headed straight over for him.

"Hey Sorata-san. I can't stay long cuz I still have duties at the temple to attend to, but Arashi-san wanted me to come apologize."

Sorata straightened up. "Apologize? For what?"

"She said something about you two being supposed to meet up today. But she's really sick right now."

"My beloved has taken ill?" Sorata exclaimed. "Why I must immediately bring her some orange juice and soup!" He leapt up, already mentally making a list of things to take her.

Daisuke shook his head. "No, don't."

"Eh? Why not?"

"I dunno, but she thought you might react that way and said to tell you not to even think about it." The boy shrugged.

Sorata's face fell. "So she just… doesn't want to see me?"

"Kinda seems that way. Sorry."

Sorata shrugged to hide the way his shoulders had begun to slump. "Oh well. You win some, you lose some." He put on a fake smile. "Anyway, with her out of commission you're probably even more needed at the temple huh? Go on kid- go forth and impress your own graceful beauty while you've got the chance!" He ushered Daisuke out of the bakery and waved at him as the boy disappeared into a crowd of passerby. Then he turned, and zipped up his jacket against the sudden chill of the falling evening and shoved his hands in his pockets, walking home alone.

.

.

The drive home was much quieter than the drive there. Yuzuriha tried her very best to keep up a playful banter but kept finding herself staring out the window wistfully. She couldn't decide whether to feel disappointed or relieved when they pulled up in front of her apartment building. She cheerfully thanked Kusanagi for a fun weekend and waved as he drove away then made her way wearily up to her apartment.

When Yuzuriha got inside she saw Sorata lying face down on the couch so she dumped her things by the door and climbed over him to stretch out similarly on the back edge of the couch herself, her feet in the air and one hand dangling by Sorata's head.

"What's wrong?" She asked, tracing the pattern of the pillow sticking out from under Sorata's face.

"Arashi didn't show." His muffled voice came from the pillow. He turned his head so his cheek was pressed to it instead. "Daisuke came instead and said she was si-" He stopped short when he saw Yuzuriha's face. "What? What happened." He suddenly sat up, more alert. "Did Kusanagi do something? Are you hurt?"

Yuzuriha shook her head quickly as best she could against the couch back. "No, no, nothing like that."

"Oh." Sorata relaxed visibly, sinking back down into the cushions. "What then?"

"I told him that I liked him."

"Oh. What did he say?"

"He said that I should spend more time with people my own age." Yuzuriha sniffled slightly as a few tears escaped, dripping down her cheeks onto the upholstery. Sorata reached up and gently wiped a few of them away for her.

"I'm sorry Yuzu-chan. I guess the stars just were not in alignment for romance today." He sighed.

"Oh yeah, you didn't finish telling me about what happened with Arashi-san." She pointed out.

He told her about his afternoon and the two of them lay on the couch for a while, both lost in thoughts about the defeats of the day.

"You know what?" Sorata sat up abruptly. "I know what will make this better."

Yuzuriha pulled herself into a sitting position as well, wiping away the last traces of her tears. "What's that?"

"A Godzilla movie marathon!"

Yuzuriha gasped and covered her mouth. "And popcorn."

"And skittles."

"This sounds like a plan."

He ruffled her hair. "Want me to pop the popcorn while you go get cleaned up?"

She agreed and ran off to shower and change into her favorite pajamas: an oversized nightshirt that she had actually stolen from a set that belonged to Sorata. She loved the bright yellow ducks with their rainbow umbrellas and rain boots that patterned it. She giggled when she walked into the kitchen to find that he had changed into his pajamas as well and was wearing the matching bottoms.

"Popcorn's almost ready." He informed her.

"Okay, I'll go get the movies ready and put some blankets on the floor for us to sleep on!" she announced and dashed off to do so.

.

.

Sorata carried the bowl into the living room and settled on the floor by the couch.

"Hey you remember that game we used to play where you have to catch only certain colored skittles in your mouth and the others you have to catch with your hands?"

He nodded, noticing that she had already dug up their emergency bag of skittles.

"We should do that again tonight. And whoever loses, has to cook dinner tomorrow."

"Sounds good to me!" Sorata enthusiastically popped in the first movie. "Okay, bring on the rainbow!"

They joyfully began tossing skittles into one another's mouths and joking back and forth to distract one another. In the end, they both lost count and decided it was a tie and they would cook dinner together. Not that this was any different from their usual routine, but as it was an activity they both enjoyed, neither really minded. As one movie ended and they put in another ,they began narrating Godzilla's thoughts in funny voices and felt that it thoroughly improved the film. Eventually though the joking died off and they both grew quieter.

"Hey Yuzu-chan?" Sorata asked hesitantly after a few moments of silence save for the sounds of destruction by giant lizard on the television.

"Mm?" Yuzuriha curled up on the floor with Inuki in the little crevice formed by the curve of her stomach.

"You liking Kusanagi… I don't want to… I dunno, accuse you of not really liking him or anything. I believe you that you do. But do you think maybe part of it is because I've been so distracted lately by Onee-san? I mean… have I been leaving you kind of lonely?"

Yuzuriha thoughtfully stroked the sleeping puppy resting against her tummy. "No. I think… I was a little bit lonely at first when you started to focus so much on her. But after spending more time with him, I really like Kusanagi. He's an interesting and kind person. He looks so scary and tough and yet he's so gentle; you really should see him with the animals in his shelter. Something about it makes me go all warm and fuzzy inside."

Sorata smiled. "I think I know what you mean." He leaned back against the edge of the couch. "So what are you going to do now?"

"I think it made him uncomfortable, my liking him. So I'm going to stay back a little more I guess."

"Are you going to actually try to like someone your own age like he said?"

Yuzuriha shook her head. "I don't think liking people works like that."

Sorata nodded. "I think you're right."

"How come you like Arashi-san?"

Sorata thought this over, staring at the ceiling. "Well. She's a mystery. I usually get people." It was true, he felt. He could usually pick up easily what people were thinking and feeling. "But I don't quite understand her and I feel like there's some very deeply hidden emotions that go on under that cold exterior. I want to know what they are."

Yuzuriha stared at him between Inuki's twitching ears. "But does that mean you like her? Or are you just curious about her?"

He hadn't thought about it that way. Sorata considered this question seriously. "I think… that I really like her. Maybe, like with you and Kusanagi, it started out as just curiosity. But there's something about her that draws me in, like a magnet."

Yuzuriha giggled. "And you're iron fillings? It's like those toys where you move the little shavings around to make a beard or a mustache or hair on a guy with a silly face."

Sorata laughed at the mental image. "Yep. I'm a toy beard alright. And Arashi is the pen that moves me around."

"Who's the face then?"

"Hmm. Life? The world perhaps?"

"So you're the beard on the face of the world?"

"It's all very philosophical."

"I see."

After a few moments he realized her breathing had deepened and Yuzuriha had fallen fast asleep. Sorata climbed onto the couch, tossed a throw over his legs and quickly drifted off himself.

.

.

It was raining but the rain didn't smell right. It didn't have that clean, humid scent that rain normally had. It smelled like… like iron.

_Iron?_ Yuzuriha wondered. Then she saw splatters of red on the pavement. _No, blood._

She shuddered and pulled the cloak around her shoulders closer. Why was she wearing a cloak anyway? Certainly she had tied blankets around her shoulders and pretended to be a superhero with Sorata before but this was something different… A threadbare, torn and dirty all out cloak. Something was not right here. She tried to call out for Sorata but couldn't.

Then she saw Arashi in the distance and watched Sorata run up to her. She tried again to call out to them but her voice wouldn't work for some reason and she was beginning to get a very bad feeling. Electrical wires shot up out of the ground near Sorata and Arashi and Yuzuriha's voice seemed to return to her as she screamed.

_Why is it wrong to kill humans?_

She wanted to answer but she couldn't and she watched the wires head straight for Arashi and she drew her sword to go help.

Wait, when did she get a sword? Where did that come from?

Sorata leapt in front of Arashi before Yuzuriha could make it there, the wires ripping straight through him, eliciting another scream from her and one from Arashi as well this time. Yuzuriha held back as Arashi held a dying Sorata in her arms…

"No!" Yuzuriha sat up abruptly, sobs wracking her slender form as Inuki, startled by her sudden movement, jumped aside.

"Wha- what is it?" Sorata blearily looked up from the couch. He noticed her crying and rolled off the couch and made his way over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Yuzu-chan? What's wrong?"

She threw her arms around his neck and cried into his chest. "Don't go Sora-chan! Don't die!"

"What? I'm not going anywhere, and I'm certainly not planning on dying any time soon… It's okay Yuzu-chan, it was just a bad dream." He held her and soothingly rubbed her back as she cried herself back to sleep, the dream already drifting away.

Before it completely claimed her though, she heard a voice distantly echo in the back of her mind.

_Why is it wrong to kill humans?"_

She nearly jerked back awake until a soothing voice she recognized answered for her.

"_Because someone will cry for them like this."_

.

.

Sorata felt Yuzuriha go somewhat limp as she fell back asleep and carefully untwined her arms from around his neck to lay her back down on the blankets before climbing back onto the couch himself. He had trouble falling asleep this time though and wound up staring at the ceiling for a long time, wondering what she had dreamed about. Yuzuriha had not cried since the day her parents died, always putting on a brave face and accepting everything that life dealt her with a smile. Tonight she had cried twice. Sorata frown and turned to face the couch cushion, wondering what it meant.

.

_Author's Note: It means she's pmsing you dunce. :P No, not really, I can't imagine that affecting Yuzuriha that much..._


	11. Distractions

_Author's Note: Um, wait, I forgot what I was gonna say... Oh well, tada! Chapter 11: In which Tooru sings!_

_Oh I remember! If anyone knows what book Tooru is reading from the line she says, I'll write you a short story of your choosing! :D It's on your honor not to just look it up!  
_

.

_I can do this._ Kakyou told himself for the millionth time since he had gotten up. He took a deep breath and looked up to where Hokuto was lazing in a patch of sunlight by the window, looking over the latest sketches from the men's department. He was momentarily distracted, admiring the way her turquoise tights accentuated the fine curves of her legs and the bejeweled black heels beneath called attention to gracefully slender ankles…

Most wouldn't call Hokuto graceful, he reflected. Bold, lively, vivacious, certainly. She had an all-out approach to life and it was her ability to hold nothing back that shocked and inspired most people. Certainly he himself had been swept away by her at first. It took getting used to, being around someone with that much energy and _life._ Especially when you came from as reserved and polite a family as he had. He was shocked when he discovered that Hokuto's family was the same way. He absently wondered if they had even spoken to Subaru since he moved in with Seishirou but turned his thoughts quickly back to Hokuto, wondering again how she had possibly become the person she was.

_Enough._ Kakyou told himself. _You're just putting it off. Come on now, it can't be that hard._ He steeled his nerves as best he could and pushed back his chair, but then found that his fingers were reluctantly to let go of the edge of his desk. After struggling to convince himself to let go, he gave up. _You can do it from here anyway. _He decided. _In fact it might be better if you're over here where you can't quite smell that sweet orange blossom scent she usually wears that's so distracting… _He shook his head, trying to rid his mind of even the memory of it.

"Um, Sumera- I mean…" He voice sounded so weakly hoarse, why couldn't he speak up just a little more? He cleared his throat. "Hokuto-san?"

"Hm?" She glanced up at him and as the sunlight from the window caught her eyes, adding just a little more sparkle to them, he felt his breath catch as well.

"Can I talk to you about something?" He croaked.

"Absolutely not."

There was a moment of painful silence in which Kakyou felt all his dreams thrown over the edge of a cliff to be dashed upon some jagged rocks below.

"I'm _kidding_!" Hokuto laughed. "You can talk to me about anything, what's up?"

The dreams averted the rocks at the last second, soaring back up on the wings of hope.

"Well, it's u-um…"

Okay so maybe they were missing a few feathers.

Sometimes things are just so perfectly timed as to make one actually believe in miracles. There's a moment when it seems as though all the stars have aligned, every piece falls into place and all is perfect for this one, shining, glorious moment.

Unfortunately, this was not that moment for Kakyou, as the fire alarm went off right then.

"Oh shoot… If Risa set the third floor on fire again with her experiments in making the perfect bra again, I'm gonna kill her…" Hokuto sighed as she pulled herself off the floor, distracting Kakyou for a moment from the shrill, eardrum-piercing screech of the alarm as her skirt hitched a little in the process.

He sighed and followed her out of the building.

_Maybe later._ He silently consoled himself.

.

.

Despite some initial awkwardness, it turned out Kamui and Kotori both had something of a knack for ballroom dancing. At first this was a relief to Kamui as it meant they didn't make too many embarrassing mistakes. Then their teacher called attention to their success and began using them as an example.

At this point, no one else was dancing anymore, they had all gathered in a circle and were watching the two of them as Terada gave them instructions. Kamui had already tried hiding his face under his bangs as much as possible by letting them fall forward but Terada had told him not to stare at his feet. So there was nothing to do but keep his head up and try as hard as he could not to blush so much.

At least Kotori looked like she was having fun, he thought, watching her give a soft laugh as he spun her, her face momentarily hidden by her hair as it twirled with her, imitating the flair of her skirt. Every time he pulled her back in and her hand found its resting place on his shoulder again, he felt a jolt and found himself wishing it would stay there. How could every little smile she gave him still make his heart skip a beat?

For a short while, Kamui forgot about the other students and was lost in the motion and rhythm, letting himself be carried on the music. He subconsciously pulled Kotori a little closer and for the first time since they had started dancing let himself meet her eyes, surprised to realize that she had been intently watching his face for some time. He wondered if she was trying to pick up clues about what he would do next from his expression. Surely not though as her eyes were locked on his… And amber never looked so beautiful set between a perfect pair of long golden lashes as it did on her, in his opinion. He bit his tongue and resisted the urge to pull her against him and hold on tight and never let her go again. He still couldn't believe that she was alive, much less right here in his arms, smiling up at him.

"You see-" Terada's voice snapped Kamui out of his pleasant reverie. "-they have good chemistry as dance partners." Kamui felt the blush that had subsided a little creep back up his neck to fan out over his cheeks. He unsuccessfully tried to will it to go away, sure that it was not nearly as adorable on him as it was on Kotori, who had also turned a delicate pink at Terada's comment. A few tittering giggles came from the crowd, only making them both blush more. Fortunately, Terada seemed to notice their discomfort and quickly decided it was time to return to their lessons.

While it was nice to not have the entire class staring at him again, Kamui had to admit he was a little disappointed when Kotori pulled away, her fingers slipping out of his grasp, leaving him feeling empty. He watched her return to her seat, resisting the urge to follow her and pull it out for her.

As soon as the bell rang to dismiss school, he jumped up, hoping to get away quickly before he could be distracted watching her again. However, just as he reached the doorway, he felt a small tug on his sleeve and spun around to see Kotori's wide-eyed innocent look.

She hesitated, as though caught off guard by his sudden turning. "Um… Kamui-kun? If it's not too much trouble, that is, if you aren't busy after school…" she blushed most attractively, nervously playing with the strap on her bag. "Would you like to walk home together?"

Kamui felt his heart swell. "But… wouldn't you rather walk home with Daisuke?"

Kotori tilted her head, her eyebrows drawn together in a perplexed expression. "Daisuke? No, why?"

"I thought…" he trailed off.

She blinked and waited patiently for him to finish.

"Never mind." He mumbled, turning his head away slightly.

She shifted her weight then asked again. "So… could we? Please?"

The look she gave him was so hopeful he felt a tug in his chest and agreed.

He had forgotten how ever since they were young Kotori had a way of convincing people to warm up to her quickly and soon they were chatting away like they used to. Not that she knew that, he reminded himself, but still.

"Hey, Kamui?" She inquired as they neared her house. Kamui was intrigued to discover it was different from the temple where she had once lived.

"Yes?"

"Why did you think I wanted to walk home with Daisuke?"

"Oh…" He blushed and shook his head. "I… well I thought you liked him." He mumbled to his feet.

"Oh!" Kotori raised her hands with those long delicate fingers to her mouth. "No! Daisuke is in love with somebody else! It's very sweet really." She took away her hands and smiled brilliantly at him.

"Oh." Kamui wracked his brains to remember who he had ever even seen Daisuke with before. "Who?"

Kotori opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted as Saya ran out the door with her book bag, pulling on a stray shoe. Kamui was stunned to see that she was young, only a few years older than Kotori… But how could that be…

"Onee-san!" Kotori called to her, "Where are you going?"

"Oh, just to meet up with someone to study, sorry little sis, I'll be home in time to make dinner, don't worry! Oh, who is this?" She paused to peer over the small fence at Kamui. "You look… sort of familiar."

Kotori briefly introduced him and Kamui, still shocked to discover that Saya was not in fact Kotori's mother here after all, numbly shook her hand and watched her dash off.

"Sorry about that, what were we saying?" Kotori turned back to him after waving goodbye.

"Oh… I don't remember. I should probably get going though." He blushed and hesitated.

"I guess… thank you for walking me home though." Kotori paused, then leaned forward and hugged him before giggling and heading inside, glancing over her shoulder at him as she reached the door.

Kamui couldn't help but feel that he floated rather than walked home, and even Seishirou's annoying singing while he worked on dinner couldn't bring him down today.

.

.

It turned out the fire alarm had been set off by excessive amounts of hair spray. Kakyou sighed into his desk where he was slumped. Seven hours and three tries later he still had not managed to talk to her. He sat up with a determined look though. This time, this time he would get it right. He always had had trouble really giving up.

Hokuto threw open the door of the office and made a beeline for her desk, rummaging through her drawers.

"Um… Hokuto-san?"

"Hm? What is it?" She looked up at him through a pair of fake glasses she had tried on for effect earlier and gotten rather attached to.

"I was wondering…"

Karen suddenly entered the room. "Have you found the spare keys yet?" she asked, looking unusually panicked.

"Here they are!" Hokuto triumphantly held up a silver key on a key ring shaped like a palm tree.

"Oh thank God… I don't even know how she locked herself in that broom closet…"

"Ah well, kids, you know how they love to explore. It's no big deal really. Once I locked me and Subaru in a freezer at an ice cream parlor and they didn't find us for almost an hour! Poor Subaru took the blame for it so I wouldn't get in trouble, silly boy, you should have seen how blue he was…" Kakyou could hear her babbling all the way down the hallway.

He slammed his head back onto the desk.

.

.

"If you can see whether or not I'm singing, you've sharper eyes than most." Tooru read, pausing at a small sigh. She glanced down at Saya whose head was in her lap, her fingertips resting delicately on Tooru's knee. She noticed that the younger girl's long golden lashes rested gently against her cheeks and her breathing had slowed to a steady rhythm of sleep. Tooru smiled and set aside the book they had been taking turns reading for English class. She leaned back against the trunk of the tree and lazily trailed her fingertips in wandering waves over the long tendrils of hair that had draped over her legs, admiring the way the fine strands appeared to be of spun gold when the afternoon light hit them, shining in glistening little glimmers through the leaves. The light shifted slightly when the breeze caught the branches, briefly stirring the leaves from their own slumber before settling them again.

Reaching the tips of Saya's hair where it lay glinting in the grass, Tooru moved her fingertips to Saya's shoulder and followed the waves draped over her arm, reveling in the silky texture of both her hair and the skin beneath it, glad that the weather had turned warm enough for short sleeves again. She froze at another soft sigh from Saya but returning her gaze to the younger girl's face, noticed that her rose petal lips had curled into a small content smile. Tooru couldn't resist smiling fondly back, even if Saya was not awake to see it.

Saya shifted slightly and a few strands of gold fell across her face so Tooru reached forward to tuck them back behind her ear then trailed her fingertips along the curve of it down along her jaw line, absently tracing her features, humming "Golden Afternoon" to herself. She ran the back of her fingers over rosy cheeks, admiring the faint blush that never seemed to quite leave them.

Saya's eyelids fluttered suddenly and Tooru jerked, realizing that she probably seemed weird at the moment. She started to pull her hand away apologetically, but Saya reached to take it back, entwining their fingers for a moment, tracing Tooru's fingertips with her other hand.

"What was that you were humming?" she asked, still drowsy.

"It was a song called 'Golden Afternoon'." Tooru watched fascinated as Saya turned her hand over to trace the lines of her palm.

"Do you know the words?"

"Yes, but they're in English."

Saya shifted to lie on her back and gaze up at her. "Could you sing it to me?" She reached up to brush away a few strands of hair the breeze had blown across Tooru's cheek.

Tooru smiled and began softly singing, closing her eyes and enjoying the warm air and cool breeze, but most of all the feeling of Saya's soft hands exploring hers. She opened her eyes and gasped in surprise when something else brushed her palm and she looked down to see Saya press her lips against the very center of it, her eyes closed as if lost in a deep peaceful dream.

Saya's eyes flew open herself then, as if she just realized what she had done. "I'm sorry…"

Tooru pulled her hand away to hold her finger to Saya's lips, gently shushing her. She hesitated then leaned down and brushed her own lips against Saya's, pulling back quickly in case the younger girl was bothered or embarrassed or…

She hadn't expected Saya to reach up and pull her back down again. Again they entwined their fingers and there was a sense of something being braided, a pulling together of sorts and Tooru knew for sure this time that it wasn't just her sensing it.

.

.

Kakyou was exhausted. He had tried 12 times today. _Twelve_. And still no luck. _And if you try again, it'll be unlucky thirteen_. He bitterly pointed out to himself. He pulled together his portfolio and annoyed with his lack of success, tucked it under his arm and headed out of the office, locking it behind him as he went.

He slumped against the wall of the elevator, sinking to a sitting position, not giving a damn what he looked like at the moment. He was going all the way down to the lower levels of the parking garage from the top floor anyway, he had time to mope. He jumped when the elevator doors opened sooner than expected and was surprised to see Hokuto herself hop on.

"Hey there! You okay Kakyou?" She leaned down, peering at him over the tops of the fake glasses.

"I- I thought you left already!" He stammered, pulling himself up off the floor.

"Oh yeah, I was going to but I got distracted talking to the shoe designers. They're just so entertaining even if half of them do ask to take pictures of your feet every time you walk in the room!"

"Oh." Kakyou stood in the farthest corner of the elevator from her and tried desperately to blend into the wall.

Suddenly the elevator gave a lurch that sent them both to their knees and came to a screeching halt.

When their ears finally stopped ringing, Hokuto looked up. "What just happened?"

Kakyou looked at the little diagram panel, showing where the elevator was on its route. "Um… I think it got stuck." He quickly pulled out the small emergency phone under the buttons and called maintenance, dismayed to discover that it would be some time before someone could get to them. He sighed and hung up the phone, preparing to just sit back and wait miserably when he noticed Hokuto had been strangely silent for the past several minutes.

He looked over his shoulder and saw her leaning against the railing, gripping it tightly, her eyes squeezed shut.

"Hokuto-san?" Was she pale or was it just his imagination?

She gave him a weak smile. "What did they say?"

"They said it might be a little while…"

Even if he imagined it before, she definitely paled some more.

"Are you okay?" He stepped forward, worried she was going to faint. "Did you get hurt when you fell?"

She shook her head insistently. "Nono, I'm fine! Really!"

Kakyou studied her a for a moment, confused, then a thought struck him. "You're not… claustrophobic are you?"

She gave a shaky laugh. "Hey, everyone's got something right? You should see how Karen gets around bees!"

Kakyou leaned against the railing beside her. "Are you alright?"

She took a deep breath. "Yeah. It's okay!"

Silence hung in the air for a moment then Kakyou quickly spoke up. "You know when I was little we used to go to the beach. It was my favorite place in the world because it felt so free and open and while I was out on the jetties I felt like I could positively touch the sky."

Hokuto closed her eyes and smiled. "We used to go somewhere like that when we were little too. I wonder if it was the same beach."

"I can still smell the sea air and hear the gulls crying…" Kakyou watched her features visibly relax.

"Me too, now that you mention it."

"I used to spread my arms out and pretend like I could fly away with them, out into the horizon, just to see what was out there." He recalled.

She laughed softly. "I can just see you doing that."

The elevator gave another small lurch and the doors opened.

"Sorry about that guys, but I came as soon as I could." An elderly janitor apologized profusely for the problems with the elevator. Hokuto graciously forgave him and thanked him for getting to them in a timely fashion before heading off to her car again, Kakyou following silently beside her as he was parked only a couple of spaces away.

She paused when she reached her car and looked up at him. "Kakyou?"

He stopped in his tracks.

"Thank you."

He smiled to himself then turned around to face her as she began unlocking the door. "Hokuto-san?"

"Yes?"

"Would you like to go to that beach with me sometime? In a couple of weeks maybe? We could rent a beach house…" He trailed off as his courage suddenly dwindled again.

She grinned. "On one condition."

He hadn't quite anticipated this. "What's that?"

"We get to go out on the jetties and spread our arms and pretend that we're flying."

Kakyou couldn't think of anything more perfect than that.

.

_3 I loved writing the last scene. And the one about Tooru and Saya- again, so pretty. *_* And no, there's nothing in the books about Hokuto being claustrophobic, I totally made that up, but it makes sense to me that she would be... And as she said, everyone has something. :P My thing is sea creatures. Which I'm sure comes as a surprise after all the references to them I've made but I assure you, they freak the hell out of me in real life. Why just the other day I had to put markdown stickers on some boy's shirts that had a picture of a shark on them and I had to turn the shirts around and reach over the collar for the tag to do it because looking at the shark freaked me out too much. -_- Sad days._


	12. No Spitting

_Author's Note: Omgzz, sorry how long this took to get up guys ^^;;; And sadly there's not even any couplings in it... Is mostly Arashi+Daisuke and Kusanagi+Subaru. Yeah, I was kind of enjoying writing odd pairings. XD BUT! It's chapter 12! \ ^_^ / (I love 12, it's my favorite number!) So w00t!_

_Also, it's time for a long overdue shout-out to both laustic and sayu-chan93 who have been so diligently reading and reviewing! Thank you both of you so much! *heart*_

_Now without any further ado, I present Chapter 12: In Which Arashi and Daisuke make a pact.  
_

.

Arashi folded her arms neatly on the windowsill, resting her chin on them morosely. At a knock on the door, she quickly straightened up and adjusted the shawl around her shoulders. Daisuke hesitantly pushed the door ajar.

"It's okay, come in." she called hoarsely to him.

"I have your assignments." He walked in with an armful of textbooks and folders.

"Thank you Daisuke." She took them from him gratefully, expecting him to simply leave.

Instead he stood awkwardly, shifting from one foot to the other, trying to find something to do with his arms. After crossing them, clutching one with his other hand and the most awkward of all, putting his hands behind his head in an odd stretching motion, he finally settled on clasping his hands behind his back like an obedient schoolboy.

Arashi watched all of this unfold with one eyebrow slightly quirked.

"Do you really hate Sorata-san so much?"

Arashi tilted her head slightly. "Hate him?"

Daisuke nodded. "You usually just kind of ignore him but you were really adamant about him not coming while you were ill."

She shrugged nonchalantly. "I was ill."

"And you didn't want to deal with him?"

She plucked at a string on the end of her shawl. "Well it's not really that…"

"Then why?" Daisuke sank onto the cushion at the other end of the window sill and she frowned at the sudden boldness. When did he get so comfortable? And why was it so warm in here?

"Because…"

Daisuke leaned back against the wall, drawing one foot up in front of him and resting his forearm on his knee.

Arashi turned to look out the window. "I just… didn't really want him to see me looking like such a mess."

"Huh? But you were sick- I mean no one looks like a supermodel when they have a cold."

"I know that." She snapped, pulling the loose thread away, dismayed to see it unraveling the whole hem of the shawl as she did so.

"Uhoh." He commented on the garment.

She ignored him and pulled the shawl off, tossing it aside for the time being.

"Probably a good choice. It's getting too warm to keep yourself all wrapped up like that anyway, don't you think?"

She glared at him. "And just what is that supposed to mean?"

He blinked in confusion. "That it's spring and the weather's been heating up so you don't really need a shawl anyway?"

Arashi leaned her head against the window pane, hoping the cool glass would help ease the blush she could feel spreading across her face.

"So why does it matter if Sorata sees you a little less put-together than you are at school?"

_Yes, why does it matter?_ She wondered.

She shrugged as nonchalantly as she could. "I dunno, I just don't like it."

"You didn't strike me as the shallow type."

"What?" She spun her head away from the glass to stare at him in disbelief.

Daisuke jumped and immediately tried to recover the situation. "I meant… I just… it's not that I think you're _shallow_, I just meant that… that is… I didn't think you were the type to worry about appearances, you know?" He nervously shifted, withdrawing his limbs closer to himself and leaning back in case she tried to strike him. "Not that, you know, there's anything wrong with caring about appearances!"

Arashi rolled her eyes and picked up a textbook, flipping through it angrily, just to give herself something to do with her hands. "I _don't_ care about appearances. There are a lot more important things in life."

Daisuke watched her nearly rip a page in the book as she jerked the pages over with the loud snap of paper disapprovingly objecting to such violent treatment. He winced and opened his mouth to proceed then closed it again.

"It's just… _he _does."

Daisuke looked taken aback. "What do you mean? That Sorata cares about appearances?"

Arashi bent her head over the book, letting her hair fall forward, hoping it would cover up the embarrassment she feared was shining through. "Yeah."

Daisuke leaned forward again, this time with a more curious expression and Arashi suddenly remembered a kitten Hinoto had brought home to the temple once years before. "Where did you get that idea?"

"He was always saying how pretty I was when we first met… That's all he really cared about." She cursed herself for letting her voice drift lower, knowing how vulnerable that must have made her sound about now. Certainly she felt incredibly vulnerable but she didn't need Daisuke to know that. What if he went and told Sorata?

Daisuke peered at her through the curtain of hair that had fallen over her face and she wished he would look somewhere else, anywhere else right now. "He did think you were really pretty at first. Still thinks you're really pretty." He shifted uncomfortably. "I mean, you are." He blushed slightly before moving on. "But if that bothers you, if you think it's shallow, then I still don't understand…"

"Don't understand what?" She glanced up.

"Why would you not want him to see you a mess?" He looked genuinely befuddled.

"Well he wouldn't think I was pretty anymore would he now?" she snapped.

Daisuke blinked. "So?"

Arashi let go of the page she was about to turn and stared blankly at it. "So what?"

"So what if he doesn't think you're pretty anymore… you said you don't care about appearances…"

Arashi suddenly found herself imagining pushing Daisuke out of the room and slamming the door behind him. It was so much easier to hide behind a nice, solid, closed door. "I don't." she replied softly instead.

"Then why does it matter?" Daisuke rested his hands on the cushion in front of her and leaned forward more, closer to her face and she backed away against the wall as far as she could.

"Because…" she looked away, staring at the floor beside her, suddenly fascinated by the carpet. "Because if all he likes is my appearance… and I don't have that anymore… what do I have?" She wrapped her arms around herself, wishing for the shawl back. She felt her throat closing up and a threatening sting behind her eyes.

Out of the corner of her she could see confusion then something like understanding cross Daisuke's face and he moved back, giving her some more space. He thought for a moment and for the first time since he had entered the room, she wished he would say something.

"Arashi-san?"

"Now what?"

"Do you like Sorata?"

She shrugged. "Like I said, I don't hate him."

"But do you like him?"

She pressed her arms more tightly to her chest. "Did he send you here to ask all this?"

Daisuke shook his head. "I'm just curious… maybe I'm just being nosy. I'm sorry if I'm prying…"

"Then why are you doing so?"

"I guess because I'm worried about both of you."

"Why?"

He tilted his head and looked up at the ceiling as if he thought the answer was secretly written up there. She glanced up too, wondering herself what he was looking at.

"Because I consider both of you friends."

Arashi gave a small jump and stopped staring at the ceiling, turning her gaze to him. "Both of us?"

"Yeah. I mean… I know you and I don't talk a lot, but you seem really nice… I mean you told me about the lilies thing. Which yeah, ended up getting messed up…"

"Because of Sorata." Arashi pointed out bluntly.

"Well… yes. But it's not like he did it on purpose! And he did take me out for dinner to make up for it- which was really nice of him."

Arashi sighed and shook her head, feeling some of the tension that had built up starting to melt away now that the conversation had turned away from her.

"But anyway- I think if you like him you should tell him that, don't you think?"

And there was that tension again.

"What, you mean like you've told Hinoto?" Arashi retorted.

Daisuke turned roughly the color of a cardinal and stammered a rough response. "Th-that's not the same!"

"What? It's exactly the same!"

"You're just trying to change the subject!"

She gaped at him.

"Ha! I'm right aren't I!" Daisuke crossed his arms triumphantly.

She snapped her jaw shut and set her expression into a cold glare. He tried to maintain his triumphant look but as the moments stretched on under her cold gaze he quickly bent and lost his courage. He dropped his arms from his chest and stared at his hands in his lap, slightly humbled. Then he looked up again with a mischievously look in his eye that Arashi immediately knew she didn't like.

"Hey. I have an idea."

"No."

"What? Yes I do…"

"No, I mean no, I won't agree to your idea."

He looked crushed. "But you haven't even heard it yet!"

"I don't care. Whatever it is the answer is no."

His shoulders slumped for a second then he looked up more determined. "Fine then. My idea is that we NOT agree tell Hinoto and Sorata by the end of the Arts Festival next week."

"Not doing it Daisuke."

He studied her for a moment. "Why, are you too scared to tell him?"

She flushed. "That's not-" She froze then glared at him. "That's not going to work either."

He sighed.

"Did you actually expect me to fall for that?" she added, indignantly.

"No, but I figured it was worth a try." He stared out the window dejectedly.

"Why did you want to do that anyway?"

"Well… I sort of thought maybe it would force me to finally confess to Hinoto to be honest. You know, if I'd made a pact or something with somebody else. It'd be harder to back out of, I guess."

Arashi turned to stare out the window with him, watching two small children ride by on their bicycles, racing. When they reached their chalk finish line they hopped off the bicycles laughing, neither one seeming to care who the winner was. They lay on the ground, exhausted for a moment, still giggling and joking until at last they both got to their feet again and ran to the other end of the street to draw another chalk line and back to mount their bikes and race once more. The way they were laughing you would think it was just the greatest thing in the world.

"Okay."

"Huh?" Daisuke stirred, distracted by the kids.

"Okay." She blushed. "We'll try your idea."

Daisuke took a moment to process this then his eyes lit up.

"Really?"

"Yeah sure."

"Okay! Um… shall we say we have until midnight the day of the Arts Festival to confess? I should be at the temple the next day so we can both tell each other how it went?"

Arashi nodded.

"We should promise somehow…"

Silence fell over them and they could hear the kids distantly laughing outside.

"Well… I guess we could pinky promise." He suggested awkwardly.

"What are we, five?" Arashi raised an eyebrow.

"Well would you rather spit in our hands and shake on it?"

She raised her pinky.

.

.

Kusanagi carefully lay the dog on the table, stroking its ears reassuringly while Subaru checked its wounds. "I can't believe they just hit it and drove off like that…" he muttered.

"I think he'll be okay though." Subaru replied. "He needs a few stitches and I think that paw might be fractured but it doesn't look like there was any major internal damage. Are you just going to take him into your shelter?"

Kusanagi nodded and sat back, moving out of the way.

After a few moments of silence while he worked, Subaru glanced up. "What else is wrong?"

"Huh?"

"It seems like something else is bothering you, every time you have dropped by over the past couple of days you've seemed a little down. Do you want to talk about it?"

If it had been anyone else, he would have kept it to himself, but something he had realized about Subaru over the past year or so that he had known him was that the young vet was incredibly non-judgmental. "There's this girl that started coming in for dog-training a while back and has wound up sticking around and helping me with the shelter… We went on a little camping trip a couple of weekends ago and at the end of it she said she really likes me."

Subaru nodded to show he was still paying attention without interrupting. Although he suddenly thought back to when he lost his eye and Yuzuriha had visited him in the hospital. Hadn't she let it slip that she wanted to be friends with someone named Kusanagi…?

"The thing is, she's only fifteen so I told her she should try to find someone her own age. She understood, I thought, and hasn't been back by in a while except for training. But since she's been gone… well, to be honest, I really miss her."

"Have you told her that you miss having her help out?"

"Well… no."

Subaru glanced up at him curiously. "Why not?"

"Well I don't want her to get the wrong idea…"

Subaru's brow furrowed in confusion. "How would she get the wrong idea?"

"I don't want her to think I'm after her or anything."

"But you want to spend time with her?"

"Right."

Subaru shook his head. "I don't understand."

"Huh?"

"I don't understand why you told her to date people her own age." The dog flinched and whined as Subaru finished off its stitches. He stroked it reassuringly, murmuring soothing words to it.

"Well wouldn't it be better for her to find someone her own age to spend time with?"

Subaru looked up at him with a frank expression. "I don't know what would be best for her. That's something that only she can decide, really."

Kusanagi felt slightly chastised. He turned away, embarrassed, letting his shoulders drop somewhat.

"But I do know what it's like to be in a similar position."

Kusanagi perked up again, paying rapt attention. "You mean you have liked someone a lot younger than yourself?"

Subaru shook his head patiently. "No, I meant I've been in a similar position to her."

Kusanagi felt his eyes widen then remind himself not to stare.

Subaru fidgeted slightly. "I fell in love with somebody almost ten years older than me."

He waited, not wanting to interrupt and curious to hear where this was going.

"We met when I was sixteen."

Kusanagi clamped his teeth together to keep from letting his jaw drop and leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. "Yeah?"

Subaru ignored the stance and continued checking over the dog. "My family… didn't exactly like it."

"Well that is a pretty big age difference, especially when you're that young." Kusanagi reasoned.

Subaru inexplicably blushed suddenly. "That's not entirely why actually…"

Kusanagi started to question it but Subaru quickly continued. "The thing is, my grandmother, she was the one who raised my twin sister and I, told me to stop spending time with that person."

"Did you?"

"I did at first."

Kusanagi was not terribly surprised by this. Subaru seemed like such an obedient, dutiful son. "At first?"

Subaru stared sadly at the dog, pausing for a moment. "It made me really unhappy, now that I look back on it. I missed them a lot."

"And that made you decide to see them again anyway?"

Subaru shook his head again, a smile creeping over his lips. "No, it was my sister. She's incredibly intuitive and knew that it was bothering me. And then one day, she told me something I've never forgotten."

"What's that?" Kusanagi was practically on the edge of his seat by this point.

"She said that 'no one has the right to judge what makes another person happy'."

Kusanagi contemplated this. "So what happened?"

Subaru carefully moved the dog to one of the cages in the back, explaining briefly that he should keep it under observation for a couple of days before moving it to the shelter before finishing his tale. "I went to see them again that day."

"And?"

"And now we're still together." Subaru smiled shyly to himself as he gathered up the equipment to be sterilized.

Kusanagi grinned then a thought occurred to him. "What about your family?"

He wished Subaru's back wasn't turned to him when he asked that question. Based on the way the young man froze he wished he could have seen the look on his face.

"My family and I haven't spoken in some time, except for my sister."

Kusanagi frowned, staring at the floor, wondering if he should comfort the vet or say something or…

"But..."

He looked up again as Subaru turned around.

"Given the choice, I wouldn't do a thing different."

"Why not?" Kusanagi wondered at how he could accept being ostracized so readily.

Subaru smiled warmly. "Because I'm happy with that person."

"Even though you don't talk to your family anymore?"

"Yes."

"Can one person really make up for that?" Kusanagi was incredulous.

"I don't think just any person can."

"Who then?"

"The person that one cares about. The one that is special to them."

Kusanagi wanted to just brush it off as corny or overly romantic thinking but he found it harder to do so when the image of Yuzuriha's smiling face suddenly invaded his thoughts. "But still, she's so young…"

"She is young. But I don't think that love has much to do with age. Besides, for all her childish exterior, Yuzuriha is actually pretty mature…"

Kusanagi agreed, letting his thoughts cruise along before braking suddenly. "Wait. I never told you her name."

Subaru paled and adopted the same look a deer caught by a car on the road in the middle of the night might wear. "Oh… I just guessed it was the girl who came in a while back…"

Kusanagi raised an eyebrow and suddenly wondered if Yuzuriha had come to him too. Either way, he decided to let it go and left the clinic, returning to his own studio to check when the next training class was.

.

_A/N: I wasn't actually originally expecting Arashi and Daisuke to get along so well. XD They decided to do that as I was writing... And hey, they did know one another somehow in X as I recall... and while Subaru and Kusanagi never met as far as I know, I kind of figured what with Subaru's love of animals in Tokyo Babylon that has carried over to this world, they would get along well enough. Besides, who doesn't love Subaru?  
_

_Oh and the answer btw to what book Tooru was reading was Through the Looking Glass. XD I know, I keep making Alice in Wonderland references; sorry I recently reread it and forgot how much I loved those books...  
_


	13. The New Intern

_Author's Note: I know, I know, this took a long time to put up. Apologies. ^^;; Been out of town and whatnot so yeah... But tada! Chapter 13: In which Kanoe gets a new intern! _

.

Kanoe leaned against the doorframe of her office and watched the young woman fluff her hair and hike up her skirt before sashaying over to Yuuto's cubicle. She giggled and leaned over his shoulder, making sure plenty of cleavage would be visible.

"Hey Yuuto…" Kanoe tried not to laugh as she batted her eyelashes. "Can I borrow a pen?"

"Hm?" Yuuto glanced up, just noticing her presence. As soon as he did though he assumed his best hey-babe-wanna-be-in-pictures-? smile. "Of course you can! And can I just say that is a _fantastic_ top?"

Kanoe rolled her eyes and examined her nails, disappointed to find that one had chipped.

"So um- I was wondering…"

_Aha so she finally gets to the point._

"Do you want to go out for coffee or something this Friday?"

Yuuto gave a toothpaste commercial worth grin. "That sounds great!"

The girl's eyes lit up.

"But I'm busy Friday!"

And her face fell.

"Sorry! Perhaps some other day?"

"Oh… yeah…" the girl returned to her cubicle, tugging her skirt back down dejectedly.

Kanoe raised an eyebrow and made her way over to Yuuto suspiciously. He didn't notice her until she jerked the book out of his hands and began thumbing through it. "Cheat codes and tips? I didn't even think you were into video games, Yuuto."

He shrugged and leaned back in the chair. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna fall behind in work."

"Oh don't worry; my expectations of you are low enough that even if you lost both arms and legs and were struck blind and deaf I'm sure you could still live up to them."

"I'm flattered by your vote of confidence."

"Besides, it's not like I care if you get any work done."

Yuuto shook his head with a chuckle. "How did you ever climb that high on the management ladder Kanoe?"

She raised an eyebrow and tossed her hair back over her shoulder, thrusting her chest out slightly as she did so. "Now how do you think."

"By fucking senseless every boss you've ever had?"

"Bingo."

"Well then how come you aren't a little higher yet?"

She frowned and gave a small huff, crossing her arms.

Yuuto laughed. "Lemme guess. Came across your first gay boss?"

"Not the first no. Just the first I couldn't persuade to… experiment."

"But haven't you ever had female bosses?"

"Yep."

"Surely the same method wouldn't work on them?"

Kanoe curled her painted red lips into a perfect smile of seduction. "And what makes you think not?"

Yuuto raised an eyebrow. "You don't have tapes of this do you?"

She whacked him over the head with the video gaming manual then held it up. "So who is she?"

Yuuto didn't even bother trying to look innocent. He tried for dumb instead. "She?"

"The girl you're trying to impress with all this."

This time he laughed out loud, ignoring the curious stares from his coworkers. "Impress? More like trying to keep up with."

Kanoe eyed him suspiciously. "Really? This is a lot more effort than you normally put into… well anything."

He shrugged and folded his hands behind his head.

"The sex must be mind-blowing. Or some other kind of blowing maybe." Kanoe observed, easing herself onto his desk to cross one leg over the other.

Yuuto grinned. "Nah. Haven't gotten that far yet."

"Oh did you just meet her?"

"Hmm." Yuuto thought for a moment, watching the ceiling as if he were counting in his head. "A couple of months ago so not really I guess?"

Kanoe's eyes widened. "You've known her for several months and you haven't slept with her yet?"

Yuuto shrugged again, a grin still in place.

Something was very wrong here Kanoe thought.

"Is she ugly?"

"Nope. Dead sexy if you ask me. Huge tits, great legs, you know. The works I guess." Yuuto's eyes got a distant look that to some might have appeared wistful but she knew better.

"So you've been hanging out with some hot chick for months and remained celibate?" Kanoe gave him an incredulous look.

"Never said that." Yuuto winked and tilted his head slightly in the direction of Miyuki's desk.

Oh good, he wasn't completely gone.

"Still. Video gaming manuals? Miyuki likes to garden."

"So?" Yuuto's face scrunched into damnably attractive confusion.

"Never caught you reading gardening magazines."

"Why would I do that?"

After a moment's studying his face, Kanoe drew the conclusion that he was serious. Not to mention stupid. But hey, the blood wasn't making it all the way north so who could blame him. Other than every woman alive.

"I see." She said simply then walked out of the cubicle, leaving him to watch after her, his face a mixture of confusion at her last words and appreciation of the view as she strolled away.

She returned to her office where the phone immediately rang. With a sigh she sank into the plush leather swivel chair behind the desk and picked it up, answering with a bored voice and after a pause, informing her assistant that he could go ahead and send the new intern up.

A few moments later a soft knock came at the door and a young man with dirty blond hair poked his head in the door. "Umm, hi! Are you Kanoe-san?" he asked hesitantly, looking ready to bolt at any second.

She leaned back in the chair, crossing her legs again toward the door, sure to give him a good view. "I am."

Rather than stare at her legs or rather where they disappeared underneath her skirt though the boy was eyeing her desk.

"Is that… a Snowglobe?"

Kanoe threw a bored glance at the desk where she had thrown the glass globe onto a stack of papers as a paperweight months ago. "Yeah, I guess it is. One of my previous employees brought it back from a vacation to Germany once as a gift." _The annoying, simpering little thing_. She added silently, recalling how he had thought that would win her affection.

The boy slid into the office and wandered to the desk to admire it, his eyes shining with admiration. "From _Germany_! I love Snowglobes… I collect them now but I don't have any from another country! I just get them when we take school trips to other cities. That's just so… what's the word? Chique? Is that German? I think it is…" He babbled away, staring at the Snowglobe the entire time despite Kanoe's leaning over toward the desk in a fashion she knew left her blouse unusually… open.

What an off day this was for her.

Eventually she got tired of the boy focusing all of this attention on that worthless little ball of water and white flecks and cleared her throat pointedly.

The boy jerked and blushed a deep crimson that she thought fleetingly would perfectly match her current nail polish. "I'm so sorry!" He bowed so low and so quickly that he nearly lost balance and fell over onto the desk, an act which prompted more bowing and apologizing.

Kanoe pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Enough."

"Right! Sorry! Um! I'm Keiichi! Keiichi Segawa!" the boy announced in halting little bursts of energy. "I'm your new intern!" He handed her a small stack of papers which she jerked out of his hand and shoved unceremoniously under the Snowglobe. Rather than look offended or disappointed though the boy's eyes lit up as though this were a great honor.

"Right well." She rubbed her temples. "Your duties are simple. For the most part you'll just be fetching me coffee, making copies of things, running errands, that sort of menial work, as I'm sure you already know."

"Yeah! But it's still such a great opportunity don'tcha think?" The boy leaned forward, practically bouncing on his seat with enthusiasm. "I never thought I'd really get a chance to intern in a government office! But I'm gonna work really hard!"

_I don't know how you got this chance._ Kanoe thought to herself, recognizing a class-1 idiot when she saw one. Of course. That meant there was still plenty of fun to be had with him. She stood and didn't bother to pull her skirt down as she did so, aware that it had hitched up when she had settled into the chair. She took care to sashay her hips slightly as she walked out from behind the desk and throw her foot out just enough with each step to draw attention to the red pornstar worthy stilettos encasing her feet. "Of course hard work will go far. But there's a way for you to go even farther if you're really… _ambitious_." She rested her fingertip against her plumped lower lip.

The boy tilted her head, waiting curiously for an explanation.

She walked behind him and ran one hand from the crook of his elbow to his shoulder, bringing the other hand to rest on the other shoulder. He tried to turn his head to get a good look at her, finding it difficult to do though as it wouldn't turn quite that way. She caught sight still of his blank confused expression and found herself thinking _Okay, seriously?_ but continued, lightly massaging his shoulders.

"Oh!" Keiichi spun around, jerking away from her grasp with a surprised but suddenly understanding expression. "I get it!"

_It's about time…_

"You want shoulder massages too! You are a pretty busy and important woman; I bet your job gets really stressful so you need something to help you relax! I don't really know how to give massages though… But I can learn!" He balled his hand into a fist and drew his eyebrows together in determination. "And I can bring in aromatherapy candles too! My mom swears by them! No really she does, she sometimes says things like "son of a thunderstorm-scented candle" and I mean, I don't really know what that means but I suppose it's swearing…."

Kanoe stared at him, dumbfounded as the boy launched into another ramble.

Normally, new interns could be divided into two groups. There were those who got what she wanted immediately and were pathetically eager to try their hand, not to mention other body parts, at pleasing her in bed. On the other hand there were also those who didn't get it at first and when they did were extremely embarrassed, or occasionally those who just skipped straight to the being embarrassed part, not that this kept them from joining her in bed either.

But this? This boy was something new. Kanoe wasn't sure she liked it.

.

.

On his way home from work, Yuuto stopped by a convenience store and made his way to his usual aisle. He had been planning on this for a while but as usual he'd been sort of half-hearted about it. It had taken Kanoe's pressing earlier to prompt him to finally take action.

He paused before a shelf full of different colored boxes and lightly tapped his cheek, trying to decide. He leaned slightly to the left at first, drawn by the new flavor put out but the "for her pleasure" ones on the right caught his eye as well and he found himself caught between them, not yet ruling out a number of other fun-sounding options. A young man who had been restocking one side of the shelf noticed and asked if he needed any help.

"As if you know anything about condoms Kazahaya." A dark haired boy commented in a snarky voice as he walked past carrying a box of hair products.

"Shut up Rikuou!" The other boy yelled back, looking for all the world like a cat with its hackles up.

"I'm just fine." Yuuto smiled reassuringly, happy though that his suspicion about why the boy had been blushing with every box he put on the shelf had just been confirmed.

Despite his reassurance however, he continued to waiver. Then it finally hit him.

It mattered.

.

.

He hadn't forgotten about Fuuma, Kamui reassured himself as he grabbed his backpack and headed out the door. It was just that Kotori wanted to practice for the school arts festival. And how could he say no? The whole class was depending on them to do well at this point. And she wanted to practice. It wasn't like she could do so on her own after all. She needed him.

Kamui smiled to himself at that thought then shook his head.

When he wasn't with Kotori he was busy trying to catch up in school. Although this had turned out to be easier than he had expected once he discovered that for his faults in other subjects, Sorata had quite a knack for tutoring history. Maybe it was his well-developed story-telling capabilities but he had a way of making events and people long dead and gone come alive again. And as much as he hated to admit it, Seishirou was a surprisingly effective tutor for math. He was still behind, and certainly not an A student but the squiggles and numbers were beginning to make some sense to him.

And of course when he wasn't obliging Kotori with extra dance practice or trying desperately to catch up with his fellow students, he was baby-sitting. He had begun to wonder why Aoki and Karen had been hiring him so much lately but hey, he could use the extra money. It was just unfortunate that it cut into the time he could have spent searching for Fuuma.

Okay so he occasionally just spent an afternoon hanging out at the vet's office with Subaru and helping feed the animals. But hey, everyone needed some down time right? It wasn't like he could afford to work himself sick; that would just give him even less time to search.

Kamui sighed and counted up the days in his head. Ten days. It had been ten days since he had done any searching for Fuuma. He mentally berated himself for this the resolved to get back on track the next day. It didn't matter that he had long ago exhausted every resource he could think of. He had to find Fuuma, he just had to.

He was so lost in his thoughts that it took several moments to realize that someone had been calling his name. He jumped and realized Kotori was only a few feet away, waving madly at him.

"Are you alright?" She asked, innocent eyes all a-shine with concern for him.

"Huh? Yeah I'm fine!"

"Okay... it's just that you seemed really lost in thought- like you were worried about something." Kotori fell into step beside him as they walked together back to CLAMP campus. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Kamui fidgeted, toying with the end of his tie and wondering why he had made the lame decision to wear his school uniform today. Kotori was so pretty in that white skirt and matching beret… He pulled his eyes away and sighed. "It's… kind of complicated."

Kotori looked up at him and he suddenly remembered why he told her all his deepest secrets when they were little. Not that she knew them now, which was still strange to remember. She was his childhood sweetheart, but he wasn't hers and on the one hand, it was frustrating not being able to bring up things they did when they were small but on the other hand, her personality had not changed at all and it was easy to remember why he fell in love with her in the first place.

"I had a friend." He found himself beginning to explain without thinking. "Who… went missing I guess."

"Was it Fuuma?"

He started and stared at her wide-eyed. "H-how did you know that?"

"You asked me if I knew someone by that name the first day you arrived at CLAMP school." She pointed out gently.

Kamui blushed, suddenly feeling like an idiot for not remembering. "Oh yeah… well yes it was Fuuma. We'd been friends since we were really little and then… something happened… we kind of got into a fight. And I haven't seen him since."

"Don't his parents know where he is?" Kotori paused as a bird landed on her shoulder and smiled to it, softly stroking its feathers.

Memories came flooding back all of a sudden- the image of Aunt Saya's blood splatter across the walls and floors and ceilings and the worst part of all: Fuuma standing calmly in the center of the room licking a bit of blood off his finger… "His parents… died." Kamui choked slightly on the last word, unable to put it any better than that.

Kotori covered her mouth daintily, startling the bird into flying away. "Oh my gosh! That's awful- I'm sorry!"

Kamui stared at the ground, at a loss as to what to say. Not that he thought he could speak anyway while fighting back a wave of nausea.

"Have you been looking for him all this time?" she inquired, laying hand on his arm, pulling him back to the sunshiney world around him for the moment.

He shrugged. "Yeah sorta. I don't really know what else to do at this point though." Why was he getting so choked up now? Damn he must have looked really pathetic with tears stinging his eyes and shaking hands.

Kotori watched him for a moment in silence then looked up at the sky, watching fluffy white clouds laze overhead. "Have you tried the library?"

"Huh? Oh yeah I went to the public library and looked him up."

She shook her head. "No, I mean CLAMP library."

"No… but wouldn't the public library have more information than a school library?"

Her eyes positively glittered as she turned back to him. "Maybe at other schools! But not CLAMP's library! It's the best in the nation! You should go check there- I bet they have something on him! I mean our school has so much state of the art technology that hasn't even been released anywhere else- I'm sure they can help!"

Kamui opened his mouth to thank her for the suggestion but they were interrupted by their teacher running into them, nearly knocking them both over.

"Oh Kamui-kun, Kotori-chan! I'm so sorry but something has come up and my nephew is injured and needs someone to take him to the hospital while his parents are at work; I'm going to have to cancel the extra practice today!"

The kids both reassured him that it was fine and watched him dash off toward the teacher parking lot.

"Huh. Well now what?" Kamui turned around and was surprised to see Kotori pushing the door to their classroom open.

"He left it unlocked!" she informed him brightly. "And the desks are all still pushed out of the way!"

Kamui wandered in after her.

"So why don't we just practice, the two of us?"

Kamui clenched his jaw and hoped his face was not as red as it felt suddenly. "Oh… um… okay." He agreed at long last.

Kotori gave him her usual ray of sunshine smile and grabbed his hand, pulling him to the center of the room.

"We don't have any music." Kamui quickly pointed out.

Kotori considered this, pressing her forefinger against her lips as she stared at the ceiling, leaving Kamui to ponder how damn cute she was in the meantime. "Oh well!" She cried at last with a small shrug. "I'll just sing!"

Kamui wasn't sure his heart could race any more than this when she adjusted her hand in his and rested the other in its usual spot on his shoulder then began to do just as she said and sang. He wondered in passing if all the songbirds in heaven were jealous hearing her song or if they were joining in up there. He had a feeling they were joining in.

.

_A/N: Muahaha, now I've referenced Chobits, Duklyon, Cardcaptor Sakura, AND Legal Drug. XD Yay for more CLAMP crossovers!_


	14. Romance

"Karen!" Hokuto called from the doorway. "Come on! The shoot starts in ten minutes and it's a twenty minute drive at best!"

"I know, I know!" Karen stuffed several more papers into a portfolio. "Kazuki lost Paul earlier so I had to spend the last half hour looking for him. Somehow he wound up in a shoe box on the twelfth floor hidden behind the tiger lily perfume display."

"You mean that cardboard cutout of the tiger leaping out of a giant flower at you?" Hokuto backed away as Karen rushed past, rifling through her file cabinet for another folder.

"That's the one. And naturally Kazuki was too scared to even go near it and started crying when I first walked over because she thought it was going to eat me. Or that it already had eaten Paul."

"Poor thing. Did you have Seiichiro come pick her up or something?"

"Huh? No, she's still here with me…"

Hokuto looked around the office. "Um, I hate to break the news to you but unless they've created a whole new face cream that not only makes wrinkles invisible but your entire body and you've got your daughter trying it, she's not here."

"What?" Karen spun around with a panicked look.

Hokuto caught the sheaf of papers before they hit the floor, dismayed as several of them slipped out and scattered anyway.

"Kazuki!" Karen dashed to the door, looking up and down the hallway.

"What?" the little girl poked her head out from under the desk.

Karen clutched at her heart. "Oh thank goodness, I was afraid you'd gotten yourself locked in the broom closet again."

"Um, I'm sorry to interrupt but…" Kakyou hesitantly broke in. "We're already late…"

"I know I know! I'm sorry!" Karen scooped up her daughter and her papers. "I'm ready!"

On her way out the door though she ran into a young man carrying a large bouquet of red roses, sending him, the flowers, and her papers scattering.

"Oh my gosh- I'm so sorry!" Karen cried, handing Kazuki to Hokuto to hold on to while she helped recover the flowers.

"Nono it's alright miss!" The boy scampered across the floor like a startled mouse, trying to reorganize her papers. "You're Mrs. Aoki though right? I'm really sorry- the flowers were a delivery for you…"

"For me?"

He handed her a small card which she stuffed in with her papers.

"If you could just lay them on my desk that would be great; I'm afraid I have to dash off- oh but here's a tip!" She hastily pulled out a few bills before dashing off to join Hokuto and Kakyou, leaving the bewildered young man with an armful of half tattered roses.

"You still have a couple of petals stuck in your hair." Hokuto remarked as they settled into the company limo she insisted upon taking on all business trips.

Karen pulled out a small cosmetic mirror and felt around, disentangling the small red velvet bits from her curls, trying to rearrange them somewhat so as to look a little more like the professional designer she was rather than the frantic madwoman she seemed like.

"What were the flowers about anyway?" Kakyou asked, bouncing a giggling Kazuki on his knee.

"Oh- I almost forgot!" Karen pulled out the portfolio, silently lamenting the state of her papers at this point and rummaged through it until she found the small pink card with gold ornate script across the front announcing "To my loving wife…"

She smiled, feeling her breath catch slightly as she read his invitation to dinner at her favorite restaurant on the inside. For a moment the world melted away and she felt like she did the very first time he sent her roses and an invitation at the studio. It may have seemed a little cliché to most but hey, the method was a classic for a reason. Just like little black dresses, some things will never go out of style, she thought.

Then they pulled up to the outdoor shoot and at one glance through the window she saw scarves being blown off of the models by the air-blowing fans and being captured and stolen by the autograph-seeking fans. One model appeared to have broken or sprained an ankle, which explained the ambulance and the flashing lights that had first caught her eye and in just a few seconds of watching she saw a cameraman lose balance as he tripped over a cord and crash into a lighting standing, knocking it over and smashing what she knew was thousand dollar equipment into tiny metal and glass fragments that she also knew were going to get stepped on and embedded in someone's foot any moment.

Sure enough another model wearing this season's hottest swimwear style unsuspectingly walked by and immediately emitted a banshee-worthy screech that Karen half-expected to shatter the remainder of the glass bulbs in the other lighting stands.

"Oh dear." Kakyou sighed as a furious Hokuto leapt out of the car to jump in and "set things straight".

Karen pulled out her phone and quickly texted an apology to Seiichiro.

.

.

Seiichiro sighed as he read the text message. He had already asked Kamui to babysit for the evening and gotten reservations a month in advance and everything.

"You alright there Aoki-san?" One of his younger journalists inquired, concern etching itself in little wrinkles across her forehead.

"Oh I'm fine Azuma-san, thanks for asking though."

"Well I brought you some more coffee; you look like you could use it."

"Thanks." He gratefully accepted the Styrofoam cup in all its caffeinated glory. "So how did the interview go?"

"Pretty great! I had no idea that the lead coach was such a friendly guy! I guess I always just thought of baseball stars, former or current, as being a little… full of themselves, you know? But he was really nice!"

Seiichiro chuckled. "Yeah, the nice thing about journalism is that you get to actually talk to big names and see what they're really like."

"You got to interview the prime minister himself once didn't you?" the young woman asked, her eyes lit with youth and energy.

"I did, but we didn't really get to chat very much."

"Still! That's so cool! Do you ever miss being out in the field now that you're a big-time editor and all?" she playfully jabbed at him.

"Not at all. I already met the most glamorous person in the world, so what more can I ask for?"

Azuma tilted her head. "You met Lady Gaga?" she asked teasingly.

Seiichiro's laugh was interrupted by the chirp of his phone as it brightly announced another text message. "No. I meant her." He replied, holding up the phone as a small picture of a woman with short curly hair and a red satin dress smiled out of the small screen.

.

.

Karen was grateful that her husband had so graciously accepted her apology two nights ago and thanked her lucky stars that not only was he a fan of theater but she could get last-minute tickets easily via Hokuto's influence. She hoped this would make up for the dinner cancellation and based on his excited text in response when she first secured the tickets, she was sure it would.

She dabbed a bit of rose-scented perfume on her wrists and neck and after a quick but careful look-over in the mirror she decided she was ready. Sure she had put on a little weight in the last several years. No longer being a model and having two children had that effect on one's body; she was still in pretty good shape though. And okay she was starting to get a few small wrinkles at the corner of her eyes but they were easily hidden with concealer. And if she occasionally found a strand or two of gray hair, she knew that too, was to be expected with all the running around she did. She wondered if she should start looking into dyes and sighed, gathering up her clutch and lamenting the loss of youth and beauty.

Kamui looked up from the board game Nataku had regaled him with the moment he had walked through the door and his eyes widened.

"You look great Karen-san!"

"Mommy, will I be as pretty as you when I grow up?" Kazuki asked.

"You're already beautiful hon." She replied, kissing her children both on the head. "And you're such a sweet boy." She added to Kamui with appreciation. "Your mother is a lucky woman."

Kamui gave her an odd look but she was in a hurry to get out the door as she was supposed to be meeting Seiichiro soon so she only gave it a passing wonder as she drove to the theater.

The look her husband gave her the moment she caught sight of him in the lobby was all she needed to know this had been a good idea. The evening was going to be perfect, she thought. First the play, then a late dinner, then maybe a moonlit stroll before heading home for a romantic night of lovemaking…

Unfortunately, just as they took their seats, Seiichiro's phone rang.

Listening to the bits she caught from Seiichiro and the garbled bits of excited shouting on the other end of the phone she managed to piece together that some scandal with a famous politician had just been uncovered and the front page of the paper needed to be redone before morning.

Seiichiro stared sadly at his phone after hanging up before turning to her with disappointment and apology in his eyes.

"It's okay honey, I know how it goes." She reassured him, even as she felt her own spirits crushed watching him dash out the door.

Outside the theater, she noticed two young women walking by pause and read the marquis.

"Ooooo I've heard this is really good!" She overheard one of the exclaim to the other. "We should try to go see it while it's still in town! Do you think we could get student discounts or something on tickets?"

Karen approached them and with a brief explanation, offered them the tickets.

"Oooh! Balcony seats! Oh Tooru this is our lucky night!"

Karen heard the darker haired girl laugh as she walked away, glad that at least they didn't go to waste.

.

.

He had tried showing up at her work to take her to a surprise picnic lunch but that didn't work out today. How was he to know there would be a crisis in the shoe department that would require Karen's immediate attention? He wound up giving the basket with its little sandwiches and red and white checkered blanket to a pair of girls who had noticed him sitting sadly on the steps of the building and asked what was wrong.

He smiled to himself as they walked away, commenting on how lucky they seemed to be lately, glad that at least someone got some enjoyment out of it.

That night when he got home from work, Seiichiro dejectedly put away his coat and briefcase and wandered to the bedroom prepared to drop form defeat and exhaustion.

He stopped dead in his tracks though as he opened the bedroom door to see rose petals strewn across the floor and Karen lying on the bed in nothing but a seductive smile and something that he was certain had to be new; he would have remembered a little number like that.

"Hey there." She called casually. "Care to join me? I have cherries." She added with a wink, taking a provocatively sexual bite of one.

Before he could even make it over to the bed however, thunder suddenly rolled outside and the room went pitch black. He registered what had happened when he realized he could hear Kazuki crying down the hallway.

Karen reacted faster than he did though, pulling a flashlight out of their nightstand drawer and throwing on a robe, rushing past him to the kids' bedrooms. He followed her, picking up and soothing Kazuki's terrified wails as Karen held a nervous and shaking Nataku who was begging to sleep with them for the night.

"Shhh. It's okay sweetie, you can sleep with us until the power comes back on." She whispered to him, stroking his hair gently as she carried him back to their bedroom .

"Are those cherries?" The boy perked up, catching sight of the bowl as she set him down on the bed. "Can I have some?"

"Me too!" Kazuki called, still sniffling slightly.

With a musical laugh, Karen acquiesced and the four of them spent the next hour or so devouring the cherries and telling each other funny stories to keep from being afraid of the storm that had begun to rage outside.

At long last the children fell asleep, curled up between them with Nataku snuggled tightly against Karen and Kazuki clinging to Seiichiro's shirt.

He watched his daughter sleep, lovingly charmed by how tiny her hands were and how peaceful and trusting she looked in slumber before letting his eyes roam over to his son, amazed at how quickly he seemed to be growing up. It seemed like just yesterday he was staring through a hospital window at a little blue blanket…

And Karen. One look at his wife's face told him she was thinking the same thing as she too, watched their children fondly. He reached his hand across the two small bodies, feeling for hers. Their fingers met and entwined, grasping hands across Nataku and Kazuki.

"I love you honey." She whispered across the dark.

Seiichiro felt his heart swell. "I love you too." He whispered back. "Happy tenth anniversary."

.

.

Sometimes he still woke up to a pillow soaked with tears and aches from having been curled into a painfully small ball. He wasn't sure at first that Seishirou had noticed as he never said anything but when he began waking up to a pair of warm arms pulling him closer and gently rubbing his back he realized that Seishirou did know that something was bothering him and was just waiting patiently for Subaru to tell him what it was. This however made Subaru feel even more guilty. After all, how do you tell the person that you love more than anything in the world that you killed them once?

On the bright side though, while the nightmares didn't get any less violent or terrifying, they did come less often. He was sure that they would never completely disappear and he would always be haunted by the memories of that other life.

As such he was not surprised when he woke up again, gasping for breath and trembling in a cold sweat with the lingering scent of blood and cherry blossoms clinging to the edges of his senses.

Before Seishirou could notice and pull him closer though he threw back the blankets and slid quietly out of bed. He dressed in silence, doing his best not to rouse the other man, and slipped out of the apartment.

Pulling his arms close to his body, he wandered through the city, letting his feet take him wherever they chose. This perhaps was a mistake though he felt when he looked up and found himself in the middle of Ueno Park, facing a sakura tree in full bloom. This place had no meaning to him in this life; he had barely noticed it was even here most days. Or at least he did back before Kamui arrived.

He had watched the tension between Seishirou and Kamui without comment, knowing that both had a deep mistrust of the other but he had thought with the tutoring going well that things had smoothed out a little. He knew they weren't exactly ever going to be best friends forever but they had seemed to hate one another a little less at least.

Then again, Seishirou was still a little rougher than usual in bed and he still occasionally noticed him watching Kamui with a wary eye so perhaps he was wrong after all. It wouldn't be the first time Subaru completely misread him.

That was another thing that still haunted him. In this life he had been blindly trusting Seishirou for years and to think that he was lying about any part of his personality was something that simply had not occurred to him until memories of the other intruded. Seishirou acted just like he did when Subaru met him before when he was sixteen. He was friendly, kind, protective… and now that Subaru stopped and looked at it, mysterious. He had known him for nine years, been living with him for six… so why was it when he really stopped and thought about it now he was just beginning to realize how little he actually knew about the man?

Certainly he knew facts like where he worked, what he did during the day, where he was from, etc. But when he tried to remember things like what he actually _liked_ what he _wanted_, Subaru came up dry. They talked, of course they had talked plenty over the years, but looking back, Seishirou didn't talk about himself.

A breeze caught the branches, shaking loose a few petals, and blowing them away, dragging a few lovingly across Subaru's cheeks and he shuddered.

Subaru knew that Seishirou's mother had died when he was a teenager but now he realized he didn't know what his relationship with her was like. He wondered how he had dealt with it, what he had done after high school and in college before he met Subaru. Oh sure, he knew which high school and university Seishirou had attended and what he had studied. But he didn't know who he met, why he chose it, what effect it had had on him. What about work? Seishirou was a surgeon in the emergency room; surely he had rough days, there were always some that he couldn't save, even if he were good at his job. Didn't that ever bother him? Wasn't he ever stressed out by it? Why didn't Subaru know these things? More importantly, why didn't he ever notice that he didn't know them?

He stared at the ground beneath the tree, imagining blood soaking into the soil, feeding it and turning snow-white blossoms a deceptively delicate pink.

There was no magic in this world. He knew that much but even without the presence of spirits bound by blood to it, the tree was still fearsome. It was sad really, that such a thing of beauty would inspire so much terror and mistrust. He caught a blossom as it floated innocently to the ground and stared at it for just a second before dropping it quickly, feeling as if somehow just holding it was enough to taint his hands. Not that they needed it.

He had taken the job very seriously. Remorse was no stranger to him by that point anyway; it practically had its own key to his front door. After killing Seishirou, killing complete strangers was almost easy, at least to the him in that life. To the him in this life, that couldn't even feed the mice to the snakes he occasionally had to care for at work without shedding a discrete tear, it was heart-wrenching. Some nights the memories of those he had killed left him in the bathroom waving away Seishirou under the pretense of having the stomach flu. Part of him couldn't stand it. And part of him knew exactly how he had done it and granted it calm acceptance.

How had Seishirou done it?

Supposedly the man had always been emotionless. But he said he loved Subaru. Then he said he didn't. Then his last words…

Just as he told Kamui before, Subaru really didn't know what was truth anymore.

"Beautiful."

The voice behind him made him jump and Subaru spun around to see Seishirou standing behind him, his features hidden by shadows as he was backlit by a park lamp.

"I mean both of you of course." He added, his voice a smooth smile as he took a few steps closer, nodding to both Subaru and the tree.

"How did you-"

"I'll always know where to find you."

Subaru couldn't decide whether to be flattered or frightened.

"What's wrong?"

"Huh?"

"Running out for midnight strolls isn't exactly your style. What's on your mind?"

"A lot…" Subaru replied vaguely, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Care to share any of it?" Seishirou caught a petal as it drifted between them and held it up to the light, examining it carefully.

Subaru frowned to himself as Seishirou ran his fingers over the petal, exploring its texture. "This might seem… like a strange and invasive question." He thought Seishirou raised an eyebrow but it was hard to tell with the veil of darkness over his face. "But how did your mother die?"

"She committed suicide."

It was too even a voice, he felt. Even if it happened almost twenty years ago, how could one deliver such a statement with such… carelessness?

"Do you miss her?"

Seishirou gave a low laugh that in any other context might have set Subaru's skin on fire. Now it froze him to the bone. "Not particularly."

Subaru felt his eyes widen and hated how clear it must have been with the lamplight shining directly into them. He shifted and tried casually walking around Seishirou, leaving a wide berth and pausing at his side, turning to face him again, hoping this way they would both be halfway lit. "Why not?"

Seishirou remained as he was, his gaze turned toward the tree. "She wanted to die. And she did. How can I have any regrets on her behalf?"

"But what about you?" Subaru pressed.

"What about me?"

"You were left alone."

"Yes and I was able to care for myself alone too."

"But…" Why did what he was saying sound so reasonable but so wrong at the same time? Subaru frowned, trying to work out what was missing here.

_Emotion. _His mind whispered. _Emotions aren't reasonable._

_But he _must_ feel emotions. He loves me… doesn't he?_

_Or does he?_

_He did…_

_Or did he?_

_Was that just a lie too? Was he lying about the lie?_

Subaru shook his head as if to erase the voices battling it out in the back of his mind.

He looked away, staring at a swing, softly swaying in the breeze. Then a thought struck him.

"_Maybe people do bad things because…"_

"Were you lonely?"

_Who are you asking? _He questioned himself. _The Seishirou from before or the one standing in front of you?_

_Does it matter?_

Seishirou didn't answer for a long moment.

_Face me._ Subaru found himself suddenly thinking in irritation. _Just turn and face me damn it. _

But he remained motionless.

He could have walked away. He could have left. Subaru knew it was an option but just as he realized that, yet another realization hit him: he wouldn't. Without so much as a word or a gesture of acknowledgement of even his presence, there was something about the man standing in front of him that kept Subaru rooted to the spot. In this, he discovered there was one shred of absolute truth amidst all the lies and confusion surrounding their relationship and he clung to it like a drowning man. He couldn't leave even if he wanted to. It may not have been the most reasonable choice but as he had noted earlier, emotions weren't reasonable. And whether or not Seishirou had them, Subaru did.

So this time when the voice in his head repeated the ultimate question:

_Is he the same as before?_

He could answer.

_It doesn't matter._


	15. Hand Puppets

_Author's Note: Yuzuriha needs a hand puppet dressed like Robin. That's all I'm saying. _

_Actually no it's not. I have good news and bad news. The bad news first: I want to apologize in advance because it is probably going to take me a long time to upload the next chapter. ^^;;; School starts tomorrow and things are gonna be busy... The good news however!: The chapter is going to be... noticeably longer than usual soooo look forward to it! :D  
_

_And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, without further ado, I present Chapter 15: In Which Sakura makes a cameo!  
_

_._

"Sora-chan!" Yuzuriha bounded up the steps two at a time as she caught sight of her cousin's distinctive yellow jacket. He glanced over his shoulder in search of the source of the sound and upon seeing her, raised a hand to wave hello.

"Um? What's that?" Yuzuriha asked, pointing at his hand.

"Hm? Oh this?" He nodded at the puppet covering his hand. "It's for the play our class is doing for the school arts festival- I told you about it remember?"

"Yeah I know but why does it look exactly like you… except in a batman costume?" Yuzuriha bent closer, examining the comically fierce expression sewn into the felt face.

"The play is about what all us students would be like as superheros!"

"Cool! Is that why you were practicing saying 'I'm Sorata' in that scary voice over and over again?"

"Yeah! You should really come see it between waitressing at your class's little dessert café thing!"

"Of course I will, you know I wouldn't want to miss your big theatrical debut!"

"Oho but it's not my big theatrical debut you know." Sorata puffed up his chest. "I was the second lobster in our 1st grade rendition of the nativity story!"

"There's a lobster in the story?"

"Two of them."

"I see."

"And a herring too."

"What's a nativity story without one?"

"Do you think any of the readers are getting this reference?"

"FOURTH WALL SORATA!"

"Right, right, sorry."

"Anyway, I just wanted to let you know I was staying after school this afternoon to work on signs for the festival."

"Oh well that's cool, I'm staying after to practice anyway so wanna come by when you're done and we can still walk home together?"

"Sure!"

Sorata ruffled her hair with the felt puppet's hand. "See you later then kiddo."

She returned to her classroom and settled on the floor with a box of markers, some glitter glue, and some poster boards and quickly became absorbed in her work. She was determined to get people's attention for their café.

Meanwhile, other students were gathered around, looking up recipes, debating which ones they could feasibly use, calculating costs of ingredients, and generally goofing off as teenagers are wont to do when unsupervised. As such, no one else noticed when a young man with narrow eyes and a sincere smile knocked on the door with a fuzzy black pile heaped in his arms.

"Hi! Can I help you?" Yuzuriha asked, sitting up and dusting some of the glitter off her clothes.

"We have costumes for you!" Another girl called from behind the boy who had just walked, carrying an identical pile.

"Costumes?"

"Yeah, someone commissioned my best friend to make them for you guys for your café apparently." The girl replied brightly. "She's really good at this kind of stuff so she was really happy to do it."

Yuzuriha pulled a costume off of the top of the pile and held up. She laughed when she realized what it was. "Neko costumes?"

"Yeah! She said she was inspired by the title 'Cat's Eye Café' and just had to do them."

"They're great! Tell your friend thank you!" Yuzuriha replied, taking some of them out of the girl's arms and laying them on a nearby table. "You should come by and see us during the festival- I'll make sure you guys get free drinks or something for bringing us the costumes!"

"Really? You don't have to do that!" The girl quickly protested.

"Oh but I want to- it's the least I can do!" Yuzuriha took the other pile. "What are your names so I'll remember?"

"I'm Sakura Kinomoto." The girl answered shyly.

"Can I call you Sakura-chan?"

"Sure."

"That's great! Let's be friends Sakura-chan!" Yuzuriha grinned.

"Hey what about me?" the boy asked teasingly.

"We should be friends too! What's your name?" she asked, turning to him.

"I'm Yamazaki."

"Cool! Well thank you both again for brining the cat costumes!"

"You know they're a cover right?" The boy asked suddenly.

"Huh?" The two girls quipped together.

"Well you know the anime stereotype of the cat-girl?"

Yuzuriha nodded. Sorata loved anime of pretty much all kinds and Yuzuriha loved watching them with him just for his energetic commentary.

"Well you know, that kind of cosplay came about many centuries ago when the _real_ cat people came from the planet Caton. They had trouble getting people to understand their ways because they didn't speak Japanese you see, they only spoke Catonese."

"I thought that was a dialect of Chinese." Sakura interrupted, puzzled.

"No you're thinking of Orange."

Yuzuriha giggled.

"What?" Sakura looked even more confused but Yamazaki continued his story regardless.

"So they got into the anime scene because well, anime defies words and even intergalactic aliens could see that. They quickly convinced people that they were just dressing up as cat-humans and so can now live peacefully among us, pretending to be avid cosplayers."

"How do you know if someone is really a cat person or just cosplaying?" Sakura inquired nervously.

"You can never know for sure." Yamazaki answered her very seriously.

Yuzuriha stifled another giggle at the girl's terrified expression.

"Hey! Are the signs done yet?" Someone called across the room.

"Oh- almost!" Yuzuriha yelled back before turning back to the visitors. "Sorry guys- I need to finish these. But thank you guys, I'll see you at the festival."

"Oh wait- before we go, what's your name?" Sakura stopped her momentarily.

"Yuzuriha… Yuzuriha Nekoi."

The boy's eyes widened (to about a normal width for once). "I see." He said knowingly. "You're descended from them aren't you. Have you had the ears removed or were you born without them?"

"Born without them. I have human blood as well on my mother's side." She answered, doing her best to keep a straight face as Sakura's jaw dropped.

"Well then, Ms. Nekoi, I look forward to seeing you in the garb of your natural heritage." The two waved goodbye as they left the classroom, leaving Yuzuriha to settle back on the floor with her markers.

_He's a lot like Sorata. _Yuzuriha thought with a smile and wondered if he had anyone to be his partner at the dance that was supposed to take place at the end of the festival.

.

.

_"Were you lonely?"_

Hm. An interesting thought.

Seishirou rested an arm on the familiar railing surrounding the hospital roof and suddenly wished he had a cigarette even though he didn't smoke.

He didn't miss her, really, but he did wonder where the question had come from. He had his suspicions of course, but he couldn't broach the subject just yet.

Still, interesting.

He returned to the ER, taking up his scalpel again.

He never really looked at people's faces; there was no need, unless that was where they had been injured. Even in that case though, he was so focused on whatever specific part of the face was currently gushing blood or sporting a nail or some other foreign and invasive object that he didn't really see what they looked like. When he thought of people he imagined anatomy. He knew every bone in the human body, every muscle, the spiderweb of veins and arteries snaking through them, the layers of skin carefully protecting and hiding all of this as if it were some secret to be locked away. It was funny, he sometimes thought, that some people thought so negatively of the idea of hiding one's heart when doing so was necessary to even survive.

The body on the table at the moment was motionless. They usually were, and on the off chance that they weren't they were struggling, animal instinct taking over and prompting them with fear and pain to select fight or flight or possibly some interesting combination. The only difference really between humans and a rather complex doll was the various chemicals playing with their brains. He might have compared the chemicals to tiny controllers but that gave them too much credit he felt. It wasn't as if any of it was intentional or really purposeful. It was convenient though how predictable they rendered humans.

He recalled hearing once the notion that "the whole was greater than the sum of the parts". He found it ridiculous. The only reason anyone believed it, he thought, was because they weren't accounting for a few parts. The whole was exactly equal to the sum of the parts and in his mind all the little parts that made people up, their physical parts, their chemistry, their environmental influences, their emotional buttons, they were all carefully labeled and filed away neatly to be recalled when necessary at any given moment.

Some might have called his mannerisms obsessive compulsive, he reflected as he scrubbed the soap suds off of his hands. But there was an element of self-control to it that those with true obsessive compulsive disorder lacked. He did not have to wash his hands. He did not have to leave at precisely 5:15 pm. He did not have to take the same route home. It was merely convenient.

Although no one was challenging him, he proved the point by taking a side trip into a green pharmacy and picking up a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He wasn't going to smoke them. He knew exactly what smoke did to the lungs in minute detail and neither the need nor desire to mimic the millions of patients world-wide facing cancer, emphysema, and the like. He simply liked the feeling of a pack of cigarettes in his pocket.

When he opened the apartment door he caught sight of Subaru sitting on the couch alone, sipping tea.

"Is that my shirt?" Seishirou asked with a raised eyebrow, locking the door behind him.

Subaru glanced up at him over the cup with half-lidded eyes. "Yes."

Seishirou grinned into the coat closet as he hung up his jacket. "What's the occasion, if I may ask?"

The younger man shrugged, the too-loose material giving a quiet rustle of nonchalance as he did so. "Kamui is staying the night at the Aoki's to watch the kids."

Seishirou wondered if that was the answer or just additional information.

People were so predictably usually, so easy to read. He stared at the young man on the couch, reflecting that at least the claim that there was an exception to every rule seemed to be accurate.

He began to loosen his tie but Subaru quickly rose from the couch and, leaving his tea behind on the coffee table, pulled his hands away from it, replacing them with his own. Rather than taking the tie off however, Subaru used it to pull Seishirou down by his neck so that he could leave a lingering and possessive kiss on his lips. When he pulled back he was wearing an expression Seishirou had rarely seen.

People were usually so boring, their movements so easy to anticipate.

Subaru gripped the tie a little tighter and took a step backwards, leading Seishirou firmly into the bedroom.

But there was one person who could still take him by surprise.

.

.

Sorata lay in bed, staring at the ceiling. At first he had thought that Arashi's awkwardness whenever they ran lines together was because she had been forced to play catwoman in the puppet show. Tight leather didn't seem to really be her thing, even in puppet form. Although it might suit her in person better…

He indulged in that mental image for a moment before feeling a little guilty and perverted. He flipped over to his stomach with a groan and pulled the pillow over his head to block out the image and returned to his previous thoughts.

He was pretty sure it wasn't just the puppet's outfit that was getting to her at this point. She had inexplicably gotten much quieter and shier than usual around him after she returned from ill. Not that anyone else believed him about this. When he asked his classmates if it seemed that way they just gave him strange looks and when he told Yuzuriha she asked how he could tell, considering how little Arashi spoke to him in the first place.

But he _could_ tell a difference, he was sure of it. Sorata poked the mattress with a frown and a sigh before wriggling over to his side. There was something different about the way she acted around him and it seemed like she was nervous for some reason. But why? Was it something he said? Something he did? Was she really that tired of him always confessing his love for her?

He flopped over to his back, arms and legs splayed across the now entangled sheets. Maybe it was time to leave her alone, he considered.

Except…

Except he would really miss her. He hadn't thought much about what life would be like without her around but now that he tried to imagine leaving Arashi to her own business, the future looked incredibly dismal at best. He had friends, and Yuzuriha and had even been asked out on occasion before. It wasn't like he wouldn't have anyone else in his life. So he wondered why a life without Arashi sounded so… empty.

He curled back up on his side, clutching the pillow. But if it was what she wanted… He heaved another sigh.

_"When you love someone, you've got to let them go."_ He remembered overhearing that for the first time several years ago when his parents died. He knew now that the expression had to do with letting someone out of a romantic relationship but at the time he hadn't known that and it had had a profound impact on him. He didn't want to tie anyone down; at the time he didn't want to make his parents become ghosts or not be able to move on because of him and so, as the expression went, he let them go. It was the hardest thing he had ever done at the time.

He wondered if it would be as easy this time.

.

.

It was strange really. He remembered that first day when Hokuto had dragged Subaru into the clinic with a gash down his arm from falling out of a tree. Subaru had sheepishly explained that he had only been trying to rescue a little girl's cat. That part wasn't so surprising, he seemed like the type who had been taught that helping others was important and took readily to that theory. The part he didn't understand came when Hokuto began berating him for hiding the injury for the past hour or so. Subaru explained insistently that he hadn't wanted to "be a bother". Allowing an injury like this to go untended, even as the boy turned pale from loss of blood, just because he didn't want to take up anyone else's time seemed ridiculously altruistic to Seishirou.

He had quickly discovered that that was simply in Subaru's nature though, as the boy returned to the clinic on numerous occasions with other injuries. Seishirou tended them all without directly commenting on their causes, wondering how the boy could stand being taken advantage of as much as he was. He took it first for a lack of self-respect and wondered about his family situation.

It was a long time before he discovered that it wasn't that Subaru did not have respect for himself, but rather that he had more for others.

The younger man gave a soft sigh in his sleep and snuggled a little closer, Seishirou's shirt still cover his arms although the front had long since been opened.

Seishirou had thought he understood the boy after that but quickly learned that he was more complicated than Seishirou had given him credit for. He never would have expected him to have such a talent for martial arts for one thing, but that time the three of them had been jumped on their way back from karaoke and a man had held Seishirou at gunpoint, Subaru had very quickly dispatched of them. It was rather amusing actually as Seishirou himself could have more than easily taken care of it. But the fear of losing him had apparently struck some sort of unexpected nerve in Subaru.

Seishirou chuckled quietly to himself at the memory, jarring Subaru slightly. The young man's eyelids fluttered sleepily then settled closed with his lashes lying against his cheeks once again. He wriggled slightly though and Seishirou watched him at first with curiosity then with comprehension as Subaru wormed his way out of the shirt and shoved it off the bed before settling back in at Seishirou's side.

He chuckled again and wrapped an arm around Subaru. Seishirou wasn't the sort of person who needed to the protection of others; he was quite capable of taking care of himself. He neither need nor wanted to be provided for and he hated the idea of belonging to anyone.

Most of all, what it came down to was a need for control. He simply could not stand not being in control of his own life at the very least and was accustomed to being in control of the lives of others as they lay trustingly on his operating table. It may have been a kind of god complex but he was nonetheless reluctant at best to give it up.

He had always been like that too. When his mother died it was almost a relief in some ways because he was no longer subject to her whims and could do whatever he wanted, eat whatever he wanted, go to bed when he wanted, etc. Perhaps it was callous to think that way but having total control over his life was soothing and he never wanted to relinquish that feeling.

At least he had thought he didn't. Then again, as he had observed earlier, there were exceptions to every rule.

And after all, it wasn't often Subaru wanted to be on top.

.

_A/N: And you probably thought those handcuffs Hokuto mentionned earlier were for Subaru didn't you? ^_~_

_So why did Yuzuriha and Sorata randomly break the fourth wall there? Because it's late and I dunno. I felt like it. XD_

_And why did Sakura show up? Well see above plus she's Sakura... CLAMP's sort of main character of everything... I HAD to put her in here somewhere.  
_

_Also- okay so I'm curious now. XD Show of hands: who recognized the lobster thing?_

_And while I'm asking questions- who remembers Yamazaki from Cardcaptor Sakura? Because I kind of thought he was awesome. XD One of the best minor characters ever._

_P.S. And you wanna know what the major inspiration for that Subaru/Seishirou scene was?_

_"I'ma get your heart racing in my skin-tight jeans, be your teenage dream tonight. Let you put your hands on me in my skin-tight jeans, be your teenage dream tonight."_

_Oh yes. Just imagine Subaru saying that to Seishirou. I can't decide if it's hot or hilarious. XD_

_EDIT: Soooo I'm currently working on a side story, one-shot type deal about how that shirt code developed. It won't appear in this story however as it's going to have more explicit content and I want to keep the rating to a T here, so if you are interested, you'll have to watch my profile page or check the M-rated stories.  
_


	16. EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Sawyer Raleigh presents: AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE CAST

BLACK MOKONA: Hello ladies and gentlemen, this is Black Mokona, your host for the evening as I take you priveledged and loyal readers through an EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW. We're here on the set of "Almost Perfect" and we're off to talk to all the characters about what it's like working with the author, each other, and Microsoft Word! We'll start with you since you seem to be really popular, especially with the author!

SUBARU: Hi everyone.

BM: So Subaru, everyone wants to know. Why are you so gay?

SUBARU: I'm not.

BM: What?

SUBARU: I'm not gay.

BM: What, not even a little bit?

SUBARU: Nope.

BM: But… what about all the gay sex you've been having?

SUBARU: The writer just keeps putting that in. I'm actually in a committed relationship with Hinoto.

BM: Hinoto?

SUBARU: Yeah, that's why you don't see me with her in many scenes in X. People say I'm very bad at hiding my feelings for her. That's why that one time I do talk to her, I still have that bandage on over my eye. It was to help hide the smoldering looks I apparently was still giving her.

BM: How long has THAT been going on?

SUBARU: We've been dating for about three years now. In fact, I was kinda getting ready to… you know… pop the…

BM: Cherry?

SUBARU: WHAT? NO! I mean I was about to pop the question!

BM: Oh.

SUBARU: We're waiting until marriage for that thank you very much!

BM: But what about Seishirou?

SUBARU: What about him?

BM: Won't it be a little weird for him, after all the years you two have been dating?

SUBARU: We've never dated. We've never even had the slightest interest in one another; we just work together. Actually we're second cousins on one side of the family-mmafjslkdgfnsdhg

BM: Ah Subaru, you should have known better than to deny being in love with Seishirou in front of fan girls. Don't bind and gag him too tightly ladies, he's very delicate you know. Oh Seishirou, there you are! Could I possibly drag you away from attacking Subaru with your shoe for just a moment?

SEISHIROU: What do you want Mokona?

BM: Readers want to know, did you really sleep with your mom?

SEISHIROU: Yes. And I slept with your mom too.

BM: But… I don't have a mother…

SEISHIROU: Anymore.

BM: I… You bastard! Cut the camera, I need to go cry for about an hour.

…...

BM: And we're back ladies and gentlemen! I apologize about that little break there but all is well now and Seishirou definitely is NOT in the trunk of my car bleeding to death from a head wound! Now then, Arashi.

ARASHI: …

BM: So we're all curious- are you really anorexic?

ARASHI: …

BM: Well?

ARASHI: …

BM: Oh come on, you've gotta give us more than that! Here what if we gave you this? Does that make it easier?

ARASHI: What the hell is this?

BM: A hand puppet! Like you had in Tsubasa!

ARASHI: Why is it so ugly?

BM: It looks just like you!

ARASHI: No it doesn't.

BM: Yes it does! You both look just like puu! Wait! Don't walk away! Come back! You forgot your hand puppet! Oh screw it. Hey Kakyou!

KAKYOU: Um. Hi.

BM: So we were all wondering. Where the heck were you when you met Hokuto?

KAKYOU: That's classified information.

BM: It is? Ohmygosh- are you in the CIA?

KAKYOU: …

BM: If you tell me will you have to kill me?

KAKYOU: …

BM: Do you have a gun? Can I see it?

KAKYOU: I guess just for a minute.

BM: Wooooow, you're really a secret agent then? Are you actually just an actor here then or are you actually here to investigate a mystery of some sort?

KAKYOU: That's classified information.

BM: Does it have to do with Seishirou? I bet it has to do with Seishirou.

KAKYOU: It has nothing to do with Seishirou.

BM: Must be Aoki then. He always seemed too normal. Serial killers always seem normal until they're caught. Hey Aoki! Are you a serial killer?

AOKI: Who told you that?

BM: Kakyou did! And look- he's got a gun! Alright ladies and gentlemen, I think it's time we took this outside as bullets are starting to ricochet off of the wall awfully close to me… Oh look! It's Hinoto!

HINOTO: Hi there Mokona!

BM: So Hinoto, how do you keep your hair from getting hopelessly tangled?

HINOTO: Well you see I… want to boil you in a stew and serve you to all my friends.

BM: You… what?

HINOTO: Oh I'm sorry, I think I drifted off there for a bit, what were we talking about again?

BM: Um… your hair…

HINOTO: Oh Right! I just… really want to strangle you with it.

BM: …

KANOE: Don't mind her. She just hasn't taken her medication today. Normally her boyfriend takes care of that for her but since SOMEONE dragged him away, he hasn't been able to.

BM: You mean she really has split personalities like that?

KANOE: Oh yeah. CLAMP never actually intended to have her go all evil in X but she kept losing it on the set so they decided to use it to their advantage.

HINOTO: Can I eat the burnt marshmallow now?

KANOE: No you can't sweetie, let's go find Subaru and I'll buy you some real marshmallows okay?

BM: Right, well you ladies have fun with that. So Kusanagi! What made you decide to join the X and Almost Perfect cast?

KUSANAGI: Well I actually wanted to be in 300 but they wouldn't let me.

BM: Because you were Japanese?

KUSANAGI: No, because they said I would make Gerard Butler look too wimpy.

BM: Oh. Well Maybe if you had been in a romantic musical before trying out for 300 they wouldn't think so?

YUZURIHA: Oh God. He can't sing worth crap.

BM: Really?

KUSANAGI: True story. I can't carry a tune in a bucket. I can whistle like a mo-fo though.

BM: Well then. While you're here, Yuzuriha-chan, I have to ask a rather personal question.

YUZURIHA: Shoot.

BM: Is it awkward having a boyfriend who's probably twice your age?

YUZURIHA: I wouldn't know.

BM: Eh? Are you two not dating either?

YUZURIHA: Oh no, we are. But I'm actually older than him. I'm really 37.

BM: … No you're not.

KUSANAGI: It's true, she's not.

BM: Thank you Kusa-

KUSANAGI: She's actually 41.

YUZURIHA: You make me sound so old! I'm going to come off as a total cougar!

KUSANAGI: Hey I like older women, they're sexy! Like you!

YUZURIHA: Oh honey…

BM: Um, okay. Well I'll leave you two to make out while I go find someone else… Aha! Nataku!

NATAKU: *($$&#(*)~

BM: Uh… wanna clean up your language first then run that by me again?

NATAKU: +_#^&^%!*(!~*& even get a !*&#O!(*&^!~+_ing frappucino with !*&!*(($#(*&^!~...

BM: Riiight. So Yuuto… how are you?

YUUTO: I'm good, how're you Mokona?

BM: Great, great. Could be a bit better if the interview were going a little better…

YUUTO: Aw, I'm sorry. Anything I can do to help out?

BM: Sure! Tell us something interesting about yourself?

YUUTO: Well I used to be in the circus.

BM: Seriously? Were you like a ringleader or something?

YUUTO: Nope.

BM: Acrobat?

YUUTO: Wrong again.

BM: Lion trainer:

YUUTO: Bzzt.

BM: Well what were you then?

YUUTO: I was a bearded lady.

BM: Oh you mean you dressed up as a woman and grew out a beard to fool people into thinking you were a chick with facial hair?

YUUTO: No, I mean I was actually a hermaphrodite.

BM: But you… what?

YUUTO: Still am actually. But that'll change soon; I'm supposed to go in for surgery in a couple of weeks.

BM: … Well I did ask for something interesting…

YUUTO: Oh I'm actually late for an appointment right now- talk to you later Mokona, hope the interview goes a little better!

BM: Byyyye.

KAREN: Have you by chance seen Aoki?

BM: I have, in the studio, but I wouldn't recommend going after him right now.

KAREN: Why not?

BM: Well for one thing he might be dead.

KAREN: WHAT?

BM: No- don't go in there! We want to hear about your job! Oh dang it. Hey Satsuki. Want to satisfy the male readers and tell us your cup size?

SATSUKI: No.

BM: Oh come on, don't be such a spoilsport.

SATSUKI: No.

BM: Fine then, be that way. Hey Kamui!

KAMUI: What?

BM: Are you… painting your nails?

KAMUI: It's clear polish!

HOKUTO: I'll help keep them healthier looking! Although I still think you should go with something more interesting like banana yellow!

KAMUI: For the last time Hokuto, I am NOT painting my nails yellow.

HOKUTO: You're right, it would look terrible with your complexion. How about purple?

KAMUI: NO!

HOKUTO: Red?

KAMUI: I just told you- no!

HOKUTO: Fine then. I'll just wait until you fall asleep and then paint them FOR you, how about that?

KAMUI: if you paint my nails red with nail polish in my sleep I'll paint my fingers red with your blood the next day.

BM: Ooookay, time to get away from this conversation before we get caught in the middle of another violent confrontation! Sorata! You up for an interview?

SORATA: But of course!

BM: So what's it like working with the author?

SORATA: Oh it's awful. She keeps a really irregular schedule and works at all hours of the day and night so we never know when she's gonna call on us and rather than doing things a little at a time, she always does them in huge chunks and wears us out so that we have to spend the next several days recuperating. On top of that, she still hasn't hooked me up with Arashi and don't even get me started on the puppet th-mmf

BM: You probably shouldn't have punched him quite so hard, Sawyer.

SAWYERRALEIGH: Shut up Mokona. What are you doing here?

BM: I'm having an EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with the characters of course!

SAWYER RALEIGH: Yes but why are you keeping me up on a school night to do it?

BM: Because that's when authors get most inspired isn't it? At inconvient times? So Sawyer, tell us, how will you respond to readers' objections that you claimed in your note in the last chapter that the next one would be longer and take a while to put up?

SAWYER RALEIGH: This doesn't count as a chapter! This is you just goofing off with the characters! The next REAL chapter WILL be longer and have some actual plot to it! Now get lost before I feed you to Hinoto!

BM: Alright, alright, I'm going… wait… Fuuma? Is that you?

FUUMA: Hey there bro, 'sup?

BM: Oh just doing an interview but… why are you here?

FUUMA: What d'ya mean why am I here? I'm an X character aren't I?

BM: Well yes but this set is for Almost Perfect and you haven't shown up anywhere in that yet… Wait does this mean you're GOING to? Are you here because the author was working on a future chapter?

FUUMA: Maaaaybe.

BM: Oh come on! You can't leave us hanging like that!

SAWYER RALEIGH: Mokona! I'm counting to three! One…

BM: Okay it seems that's all we have time for tonight guys! Hope you enjoyed it!

SAWYER RALEIGH: Two…

BM: And if you have any more questions you'd like to hear the characters answer, just message the author and maybe she'll be nice and include another interview somewhere!

SAWYER RALEIGH: THREE!

BM: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YUUUUUKOOOOOOOO! HEEEEEEEEELP!


	17. The Arts Festival

_Author's Note: Omg, I know this took forever to put up you guys and I'm sorry. ^^; Hopefully the fact that it's almost four times as long as the other chapters will make up for it? Again, apologies. Oh and there are a lot of references to other CLAMP works in this particular chapter so if you're interested, I included a list at the bottom of the chapter of what series' different characters who cameo in here are from. Also, the song I kept listening to, especially for the later parts of this chapter was the "When the Stars Go Blue" (the Tim McGraw cover) and I still imagine it being the last song even though I realize it would more likely be something Japanese. ^^; It's just such a sweet song though… _

_Anyway, shutting up now and at long last, letting you get to Chapter 17: In which there is a lot of dancing. ^_^_

.

.

Kamui took a deep breath as he fastened his shirt sleeve cuffs and pulled on the sleek black vest the boys had agreed to wear. He glanced in the mirror once and tried to make his hair lie a little straighter for once without much success. He gave up when Subaru knocked on the door and asked if he was ready to go.

_Let's get this show on the road._

.

.

Kusanagi remembered Yuzuriha mentioning her school arts festival back before the camping trip. She had seemed really excited about it and invited him to come back then and Kusanagi wondered if the invitation still stood. He certainly hoped so as he stood outside the school gates now, a flyer for the festival clenched in his hand and quickly rumpling into a sweaty mess. He realized this was a mistake as he tried uncrumpling and reading it so he could remember where Yuzuriha's class was holding their café.

Eventually he managed to make out the room number through the smudged ink and made his way toward the home economics room which had a large banner over its entrance declaring it the Cat's Eye Café. It looked cute, friendly and inviting, rather like Yuzuriha herself, he thought. Inside the café though, he quickly discovered, was utter chaos.

"Oi! Watanuki! Hurry up with the fondants- I need some more!" a boy with a dark look about him shouted to another student who was hastily stirring the contents of a mixing bowl.

"I'm going I'm going! As if it isn't enough that I have slave over Yuko's stove all the time…" the bespectacled boy grumbled into the mix.

"What was that?" A woman in a revealing silk Chinese-style dress whacked him with a fan.

"What are you doing here!" the boy growled at her as he massaged the sore spot on the back of his head.

"I came for the desserts of course!" She announced loudly.

Kusanagi could have sworn the strange black plushie sticking out of her purse waved at him. Disconcerted, he turned away and began scanning the rest of the room for Yuzuriha. He spotted her on the opposite side of the room, talking to a group of students in blue and white uniforms who were all holding small dolls for some reason, even the two boys. He wondered briefly about the man in the glasses and the white lab coat, hiding behind the potted plant nearby, watching them, or more specifically, he realized, watching the short girl with a pink-haired doll. He frowned, wondering if the guy was some kind of pervert stalking her then felt like a complete idiot as it occurred to him he must look the same, standing here watching Yuzuriha.

Feeling suddenly ashamed, he lost courage and decided he could come back later. He wandered out of the room without her even noticing and proceeded to explore the rest of the festival, curious as to what Yuzuriha's life outside of the training facility was like.

.

.

Daisuke resisted the urge to toss the paper aside and drop his head to his desk. The girl wanted a paper rose and a paper rose she would have, although he did wonder why at her age she was still carrying around a teddy bear. Based on the body guard's resigned expression as he held another bear, Daisuke guessed that this was a usual thing for her and against his better judgment, offered to make one for the bear as well.

When at last he was finished he presented the cheerfully childish girl with the paper rose and watched her skip away happily, bodyguard and teddy bears in tow. Daisuke sighed in relief but it was short lived as a tap on his shoulder caught his attention.

He turned to see, to his horror, Hinoto. All day long he had been hoping he could avoid running into her so that when he saw Arashi the next day, he would have the excuse of not having seen her. He was beginning to regret the deal they had made and dreading the moment when he would have to fulfill his end of the bargain.

"Um… hi…" he muttered, trying to meet her eye but finding he just couldn't.

"Hi there." Could a voice be more soft and graceful? "I just came to return some notes that Chiharu said she borrowed from you the other day."

"Oh." Daisuke took the notebook with considerable disappointment and watched Hinoto turn to leave. Before she walked away though she glanced over her shoulder and with a shy smile added,

"Your flowers look really nice."

Daisuke felt his heart skip a beat as she disappeared into the crowd of people. Once she was out of sight he stared down at the various kinds of paper scattered across the table. Wasn't there one that was… aha, there it was: the snowy white paper with a winding silver pattern delicately traced over its smooth surface.

"_She likes lilies._"

Daisuke grinned as he began folding.

.

.

"Oh Saya! Over here!" Kotori called with a wave.

Kamui turned around and had to do a double take when he saw the young woman who was approaching with Saya.

"Kotori-chan!"

Kamui was momentarily distracted by the sisters. He had always known that Kotori looked a lot like her mother but now that he saw them standing together closer in age, the similarities really struck him. Really, the only difference that one could tell immediately was that Saya overall gave the impression of graceful and serene beauty while Kotori was more energetic and cute. He remembered thinking in his childhood that Aunt Saya was pretty but had not wondered until just now if Kotori would look like that when she was older. If so, his attraction to her was not going to lessen any time soon…

He quickly shook his head of the thought and turned his attention back to the one that had caught his eye in the first place.

She was younger than Kamui ever remembered seeing her, and there was something else different about her that he could not quite put his finger on, but it was unmistakable who she was.

"Kotori-chan, this is Tooru, Tooru, my little sister Kotori and…" Saya turned to him with a blank look. "Oh I'm so sorry- we were in such a rush when we first met; I've completely forgotten your name!"

"Kamui." He supplied, somewhat numbly.

"Oh that's right! Tooru, Kamui, Kamui Tooru." She completed her introductions.

"Kamui…" Tooru repeated, thinking. "That's an interesting name; I like it."

"Me too! We should name our first child that." Saya joked.

Tooru laughed and wrapped an arm around Saya, pulling her to her side.

Kamui blinked.

"_Okaa-san?"_

"_Yes Kamui?" His mother helped him climb onto the bed._

"_Did you love Oto-san?" He asked her with serious violet eyes. _

_She kissed his forehead and pulled him into her lap to wrap her arms around him. "I cared for your Oto-san, but I did not love him. He wasn't my special person."_

"_Special person?" Kamui clutched at her shoulder. He liked how soft her skin was. It made him feel safe and warm here. _

"_Yes, the person who you love more than anything else. The one who was made just for you, and you were made just for them."_

"_Who is your special person then?"_

"_Aunt Saya."_

"_What about me?" Kamui looked up from where had been tracing various shapes he had just learned in school on her forearm._

_She chuckled, a gentle laugh that ran through him as well. "Of course I love you too."_

Kamui had known that Aunt Saya was his mother's best friend and he had assumed that's what she meant by special person at the time. It was only now, seeing the way she looked at Saya that it suddenly occurred to him that that wasn't what she meant. He felt a blush start to creep up his neck.

"You know, I thought you looked familiar when we first met." Saya suddenly addressed him. "I know why now I think." She looked between him and Tooru a couple of times. "You two look a lot alike."

"Oh my gosh, you do!" Kotori exclaimed, looking back forth as well. She grabbed Kamui's hand and much to his embarrassment, pulled him over to stand next to Tooru. "You look like you could be siblings! Are you guys maybe somewhat related?"

"I dunno", Tooru turned to Kamui. "What's your last name?"

"Sh- Shirou." He stammered.

She shook her head. "Never heard of anyone with that last name, much less any relatives. Sorry."

"S'okay." He mumbled.

An upbeat song began blaring through the loudspeakers.

"Oh- Tooru I love this song! Let's go dance!" Saya laughed, taking her hand and pulling her toward the dance floor.

Tooru laughed as well as they disappeared into the crowd and suddenly it occurred to Kamui what was different about her.

She looked happy.

.

.

Backstage behind the makeshift puppet theater was pandemonium. Kentaro and Takeshi had disappeared again with some bizarre excuse involving straws and menorahs, Miyuki was being molested yet again and was nearly down to just her underwear this time, and Chun Hyang was fighting with an older male student about something to do with a swing set in a shouting match which would put all others to shame, drowning out everyone else. Worst of all, Sorata couldn't find Arashi anywhere.

He searched all of the classrooms in their hallway, asking every person he passed if they had seen her without any luck before moving out into the outdoor stands, scouring every inch of the grounds for any sign of her. After nearly an hour of searching, he sighed and glanced up at the clock tower to check the time. That was when he noticed a figure with long billowing black hair standing on the roof of a nearby science building.

He dashed inside, wandering past lab rooms with their black countertops strewn with beakers and test tubes in preparation for some sort of demonstration that would probably take place later that day. He didn't know this building very well, having avoided taking too many science classes over the years. Science was never his strongest subject; he never liked the idea that life could be broken down into analyzable data to be labeled and categorized in neat little black and white notebooks.

After some failed attempts to find a stairwell that led to the roof, he discovered a fire escape just outside one office on the third floor and slipped out onto it, pulling himself up to the roof that way.

Sure enough, there she was, standing by the fencing that lined the rooftop, staring at a script and murmuring lines to herself as the puppet hung limp in her pocket.

"Hey there!" Sorata called cheerfully.

She jumped at the sound of his voice and dropped the script, a breeze catching the papers and blowing them over the edge of the roof like strangely shaped feathers. Arashi grasped at a few, trying to recover them but watched in dismay as they drifted out of reach.

"Oops… sorry…" Sorata rubbed the back of his neck.

Arashi shot him a glare that he half-expected to melt his face off. "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine." She snapped, picking up her book bag and pushing past him to head back downstairs.

"Hey, um… If you wanna run lines together we can. I know them all by heart, even yours." Sorata offered.

Arashi hesitated by the door to the stairwell.

"I mean most of our lines are together and it would be easiest to you know, actually practice with the puppets." Sorata pulled his own puppet out and held it up with a hopeful smile. Arashi sighed and they settled down beside him on the concrete, rehearsing one of the last scenes in the superhero skit their classmates had devised.

It took several tries to get through get through all of the lines without any mistakes on either part but when at last they did, they moved on to the finale. Arashi blushed, remembering that the last scene included a kiss on the cheek. Granted it was between their puppet and not them, but it was still incredibly embarrassing, especially when the puppets were designed to look like them.

"_We have until midnight the day of the Arts Festival to confess."_

Arashi felt her face grow even hotter as the blush deepened and she tilted her head, hoping her hair would cover the unsightly look.

"Are you okay?" Sorata suddenly asked, his eyes widening in concern.

Arashi nodded, praying that she didn't blush more.

"Are you sure? You look slightly feverish…"

Arashi stared at her lap, clutching at her school uniform skirt. "I'm sorry if I look a mess." She mumbled.

A hand suddenly appeared before her and slipped beneath her chin, tilting her head up to face him again before leaning forward to brush the hair back, out of her face. "But you're beautiful, even when you're a so-called 'mess'." Sorata's smile was sincere rather than joking for once.

Arashi stared at him for a long moment before realizing how close their faces were and hastily withdrawing, suggesting that they continue their rehearsal.

When the kiss finally came up, a loud popping sound as someone accidentally set off a small firework below distracted her and Arashi glanced away for a moment and when she turned back around, she was horrified to see that rather than kissing Sorata's puppet's cheek, she had moved her hand so that they were kissing on their little red felt lips.

Sorata laughed. "See? The puppets think we should be together!" He proclaimed.

Arashi blushed again and jerked her hand back as though it had been burned. She stared at her hands, humiliated until Sorata leaned over again.

"I'm sorry." At a glance up, he did really look sorry. "I didn't mean to tease."

Arashi slowly lifted her head, studying the deep, muddy eyes before her. She wasn't sure who moved first but the next thing she knew they were imitating the puppets.

.

.

Subaru stared at the clock tower of CLAMP campus, amused to see that the blowfish mascot was still perched in its usual spot on top with its absurdly enormous eyes and grin. It had been a while since he had spent any time in the high school division here, having graduated from the school himself years before, and seeing it now brought back fond memories.

He did not have very much time to reminisce though as he was suddenly nearly knocked over by a fierce glomp accompanying an excited cry of "SUBARU!".

"Hokuto?" Subaru attempted unsuccessfully to extricate himself from his sister's death grip. "What are you doing here?"

"Well we're thinking of doing a line of juniors clothing now and I was thinking I needed to reconnect with the modern teen! And what better way to do so than to submerge myself in their culture?"

"Um… right."

"Also these things always have the best sweets."

"Ah."

"Kakyou. Note that baggy socks seem to be making a current comeback. Actually get a quick sketch of that girl's particular look over there if you can."

The secretary standing nervously behind her nodded and began scribbling on his clipboard.

"So what are YOU doing here anyway beloved little brother?" Hokuto gave him a mischievous look. "Scouting for another addition to your collection of young boys?"

"No!" Subaru quickly cried. "I'm just here to see Kamui and what his class is doing."

"Oh yes. About that. This 'Kamui' kid. Who is he?"

Subaru bit his lip. "Um, he's a cousin of ours."

"Really. Our 'cousin' huh?" Hokuto narrowed her eyes.

"Is it just me or does it seem like the teacher is really close to that one student he keeps dancing with?" Seishirou asked, suddenly popping up beside them with an ice cream cone in hand.

"Yes well you would notice that wouldn't you." Hokuto shot back, stealing a lick from the cone.

"Eh?"

"Just sayin'. Like recognizes like. You should recognize pedophilia when you see it."

"I'll have you know I never laid a hand on Subaru until he was well over the age of consent."

"Except for that time you kissed him."

"He kissed me."

"I was drunk!" Subaru protested. "And that was all your fault!" He glared at his sister. "YOU spiked my drink, remember?"

"And aren't you glad I did?"

"Why should I be?"

"Because that was when you finally told him you liked him. Just think how many more years it would have taken if I hadn't done that."

Subaru rolled his eyes.

"She has a point you know." Seishirou added between bites of ice cream.

"This is ridiculously good." Hokuto added, taking another bite herself. "Where did you get it?"

"There's a class doing a little dessert café in one of the home economics rooms."

"Are the servers in costumes?"

"Yup."

"Sweet! Kakyou- let's go check it out!"

.

.

"Daddy- can we get ice cream?" Kazuki asked, tugging on her father's pant leg.

"No honey, not right now. We're here to see Kamui, remember?" Seiichiro replied, picking her up before she got lost in the crowd of people.

"But Paul really wants some." She held the teddy bear up to his face insistently.

"Me too! Except I want cake! Or a popsicle!" Nataku chimed in, eyeing a little menu some students had put outside a classroom labeled the Cat's Eye Café.

Seiichiro started to protest but Karen cut in. "Actually it's okay. Kamui's class doesn't do their performance until the sun goes down so we have a couple of hours. I wanted to arrive early so we could just look around and be there to wish him good luck beforehand."

"Ah well okay then." He conceded, following his wife into the little café where girls were dressed in frilly pink and black dresses with cat ears and tails and the boys were in matching black and blue tuxes with dog ears.

A slender girl with a bell around her neck glanced up as soon as they walked in and bounced away mid-sentence from a tall rough-and-tumble looking man in camouflage pants to greet and seat them.

"These costumes are just too cute! Oh- those leggings, see the design down the side? Write that down."

"Oh Hokuto-chan!" Karen called out, recognizing her boss's voice as she ordered Kakyou to take more notes on a particular outfit. "Want to join us?" She offered, pulling up two more chairs from a nearby table.

"Absolument!" Hokuto cried, plopping down next to her and giving Nataku a quick side hug. "I've just been trying to pry some information out of my little brother. You would think I would know better what's going on in that head of his sometimes but alas, no."

"I forget that you two are twins sometimes." Seiichiro laughed. "You're so different."

The teacher that had come over to take their orders laughed as he tied his longish blond hair back with a small black ribbon. "I'm sorry." He apologized quickly. "I have a twin brother myself who is a bit… different." He explained.

"Oho? How so?" Hokuto asked, eyeing the chocolate fondant a girl with short black hair and a bell around her neck was carrying by.

"Well for one thing he loves fashion. Especially more… adventurous fashion shall we say." The young man's face was a mixture of amusement and exhasperation.

Hokuto waved a hand nonchalantly. "Well nothing odd about that! Clothes are my favorite thing in the world too! After my baby brother of course."

"Really? Then you should go see the student-run fashion show he's sponsoring."

"There's a student-run fashion show?" Hokuto cried, clapping her hands together in excitement. "That's absolutely _perfect_! Where is it?"

The teacher directed her across the walkway and stepped back quickly as she jumped up, grabbing Kakyou's sleeve and dragging him out with her. "Come on Karen!" she called over her shoulder. "We should both go check it out!"

The three of them made their way to the small stage with its makeshift catwalk, Hokuto and Karen taking seats at the very front so as to have the best view. The teacher, a blond young man whose resemblance to the one in the café was only tempered by the fact that he was wearing a woman's kimono, announced that the show would begin in a few moments.

"Hokuto-chan!" A voice cried from a few feet away, drawing their attention away from the stage.

"NOKORU!" Hokuto leapt out of her seat to air kiss each cheek of the impeccably dressed chairman. "Oh my god, this cravat! Is it Armani?" She asked, lightly fingering the silk fabric.

"But of course!" Nokoru replied. "And the shoes you sent along!" He gestured at his feet. "They are simply to die for! You absolutely should continue making some like this."

Hokuto giggled. "How about the boxers?"

Nokoru winked. "Wearing them right now. Fabulous as well. So breathable! I swear my dear, you're going to bankrupt all other high fashion industries just by stealing away all my business at this rate."

"Ohohoho! Well that's just their own faults for not being as awesome as me isn't it!"

Nokoru joined her laughter. "Oh but my dear is that really their fault? I mean who really can compete with your awesomeness?"

"True! True!" Hokuto lead him back to where they were sitting as the lights dimmed and music began, signaling the start of the show.

A young girl with long wavy black hair and enormous violet eyes quietly asked if she could take a seat by them as well.

"Certainly!" Hokuto whispered as students began parading out.

A young girl with short hair came out in a pink and white dress with a fluffy matching hat and wings and did a quick twirl at the end before returning to disappear behind the curtains at the end of the catwalk.

"She was adorable!" Karen exclaimed as a boy in a green Chinese-inspired outfit walked out with a face so red it looked as though he were a Christmas ornament.

"Isn't she?" the dark-haired girl enthusiastically agreed.

"She certainly was!" Nokoru replied, much to the girl's delight.

"She truly did pull off that outfit." Hokuto nodded.

"What is her name, if I may ask?" Nokoru inquired.

"Sakura Kinomoto." The girl answered brightly.

"Kinomoto? Why does that name sound so familiar?" Hokuto frowned in puzzlement.

"Wait, she isn't related to Nadeshiko Kinomoto is she?" Karen asked.

"Yes ma'am. She's her daughter." The girl nodded.

"OH! Well no wonder she's so cute then!" Karen cried.

"Eh?" Hokuto still looked puzzled.

"Nadeshiko Kinomoto was a model who I always admired when I was young! She was what inspired me to go into modeling myself." Karen explained.

"Oh is she the one you have a print of in your office?"

"In the Victorian style dress? Yes, that's her."

"Ooooh, I see the resemblance now." Hokuto nodded, turning her attention back to the young girl on the makeshift catwalk. "I really wish I had brought a camera… You can't get all of the fine details down in a sketch can you?" Hokuto sadly asked Kakyou who shook his head.

"Oh I'm filming the whole thing!" the girl announced, pointing to a video camcorder she had set up on a tripod nearby. "I can send you a copy of the tape if you like."

Hokuto's eyes shone. "Can you?"

"Sure!"

Hokuto ordered Kakyou to give the girl the address to her office and then asked the girl who designed all of the outfits. "Was it a class effort or what? They're absolutely fantastic! And all so different!"

"It has the feel of a lot of different creative energies." Nokoru agreed.

"Oh." The girl suddenly turned shy and embarrassed. "I designed them."

"ALL of them?" Hokuto was shocked.

At a nod Nokoru jumped in again. "But you all made them together right?"

"Oh no. I sewed them too."

"You put this whole thing together yourself?" Karen asked, impressed.

"Oh no, not all by myself." The girl protested. "Other students built the catwalk and designed the lighting and music and did the advertising for us. And of course they're modeling."

Hokuto dismissed this information with a wave of her hand. "But you designed and made all of the clothes?"

The girl nodded.

"Have you by chance ever considered a career in fashion?" She asked, throwing an arm around the girl.

Karen shook her head and stood with a smile, starting to return to where Seiichiro was busy cleaning bits of cake frosting off of Kazuki's cheek. She noticed though as she was starting to walk away that Kakyou, sitting quietly in the row behind where they had been, was sadly watching the animated discussion between Hokuto and Nokoru about the girl's prodigy.

"They're not a couple you know." She rested a hand on his shoulder briefly, causing him to jump and give her a startled and somewhat sheepish look that reminded her of the time she had first caught Seiichiro singing loudly in the shower. "They've never dated. And I doubt they ever could." Karen told him quietly, with a small laugh. "Hokuto does not want a man who flirts with every woman in sight. She would greatly prefer someone who was hopelessly devoted to her." She gave Kakyou a pointed look then returned to her husband before he could stammer out a response.

.

.

Kusanagi took a deep breath this time before entering the little café again. He glanced around, scanning the ever-growing crowd of people without much success. At long last he spotted Yuzuriha's boyishly short hair as she laughed with a group of friends in one corner of the room. Kusanagi felt his own lips curl into a smile in response and he began to pick his way between the tables to make his way over to her.

He had only gotten a few steps though when a boy with narrow eyes appeared. Yuzuriha seemed delighted to see him, pulling him into a warm hug that froze Kusanagi in his path.

"_Maybe you should spend more time with boys your age"_

He turned and slipped back out of the café without a word.

.

.

One more fold…

Another costumer appeared, requesting a paper rose for his wife.

Daisuke nearly lashed out in frustration, having been stopped repeatedly all afternoon by various people seeking the flowers. He was so close to being done…

Then he realized it was his Uncle Aoki before him, with his usual slightly scattered-looking smile.

"Hi!" Kazuki gave a sticky wave from her perch on her father's shoulders, nearly dripping a bit of ice cream into his disheveled hair.

Daisuke smiled and made one large red rose he assumed was for Karen, and a small pink one he handed up to Kazuki, earning a brilliant beam of the kind of whole-hearted gratitude only a small child could muster.

Aoki thanked him and after lingering a few moments to ask how school and the festival were going, he finally made his way back into the crowd with his fair-haired little daughter happily playing with her rose on his shoulders and asking him if she could put it in her toy pony's hair.

Daisuke sighed and returned to his papers.

One more neat crease later, he at last had a bouquet of fourteen white and silver lilies. He wasn't sure exactly why he had made fourteen. He had originally intended to make a dozen, but somehow fourteen seemed more significant. Something nagged at the back of his mind as he held up the flowers, examining his creation…

He shook his head, banishing the niggling feeling and asked his teacher if he could go wander the festival now and upon receiving permission, he set out in search of Hinoto.

He found her on the edge of a dance floor, watching a couple onstage demonstrate a waltz with a dreamy expression on her face. Daisuke recognize Kotori and the new guy, Kamui, as the pair doing the demonstration and suddenly the feeling that he was forgetting something important returned in a wave of nostalgia that left him feeling disoriented and dizzy for just a moment .

Pulling himself back together quickly and shoving away the feeling with more force this time, he approached Hinoto and cleared his throat to get her attention.

She turned to give him that deep, penetrating look that never failed to stir up the butterflies in his stomach.

"I um… made these for you." He suddenly felt embarrassed, holding out the paper bouquet. She was a priestess and the daughter of a decidedly wealthy family, what use would she have for a bit of folded paper?

She gasped softly.

"Did you make all of these yourself?" she gathered them into her arms, running a fingertip over the swirling pattern of the paper.

Daisuke gulped and nodded.

"They're beautiful." She breathed.

"I really… I really like you." Daisuke suddenly blurted then mentally kicked himself once again for being so brash.

She merely gave him a gentle smile. "That's so sweet of you."

"Daisuke!" A classmate called behind him. "Hey, come help clean up!"

Daisuke gritted his teeth in frustration. He had been hoping to ask her for a dance. "I'll be right there!" he shouted back.

"You should go help." Hinoto smiled serenely. "Thank you though for the flowers, they're lovely."

"You're welcome."

"Daisuke! Now!"

"I'll see you at the temple I guess." Daisuke reluctantly turned and ran after the impatient student, leaving Hinoto with the lilies.

.

.

The puppet show had been a complete hit, despite the numerous near-disasters backstage and the ending with the kiss went off without a hitch despite Arashi's furious blushing just below the stage. Arashi managed to keep busy though, helping clean everything up as the sun began to sink, deepening the sky to an orangeish glow. She avoided even looking at Sorata as she gathered up her things and headed out of their classroom.

He caught up to her though as she was getting ready to leave and asked if he had done something wrong.

She shook her head, staring at the ground as an upbeat melody blared from a loudspeaker nearby.

"Are you mad about… about earlier?" Sorata inquired.

She shook her head again, feeling that blush creeping into her cheeks again.

Sorata gave a sigh of relief. "Then why…"

Arashi shrugged. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Hinoto throwing away some flowers and briefly wondered at it before another question from Sorata pulled her attention back to him.

"That was your first kiss wasn't it?"

Arashi nodded.

"Are you upset that it was me?"

She shook her head.

Sorata studied her for a long moment before running his hand through his hair. "Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I've suspected for a long time that even though you usually act all distant and annoyed you actually kind of like me back."

Arashi stiffened.

"Am I right?"

A slower song began to play.

Arashi slowly nodded.

"Really?" Sorata pulled her into a tight embrace. "Oh man, Onee-san, that's so great!" He pulled away and gave her a serious look. "Can we start planning the wedding now?" He asked in a deadpan voice that left her half wondering if he was serious but she rolled her eyes.

"Don't get ahead of yourself."

He laughed. "Alright, alright, too soon to ask you to marry me." He grinned and took her hand. "But tell me, Onee-san, is it too soon to ask for a dance?"

She smiled softly.

.

.

Kamui gave Kotori one last twirl then caught her in dip, eliciting enthusiastic applause from the crowd that had drawn.

"There you have it ladies and gentlemen!" Terada-sensei announced, joining them onstage. "You are more than welcome to try the dance yourself or our students are lined up on either side of the stage if you would like some pointers…"

"This has been really fun." Kotori giggled as she and Kamui made their way down the steps of the stage to join the other students.

Kamui agreed, feeling a little high from the adrenaline rush of performance still.

They paused at the edge of the dance floor, watching the others step out as the music began.

"I guess we should head out there too, huh?" she asked. "People seem to really want pointers from you and I."

Kamui nodded reluctantly. He was coming down from the rush of exhilaration and beginning to feel the aches of weary and protestant muscles.

Kotori beamed at him. "I'm really glad that you were my partner." Then without warning she hopped up onto her tiptoes and left a quick peck on his cheek before bouncing off onto the dance floor.

Kamui stared after her in shock, unconsciously raising his fingertips to the spot she had kissed, a grin growing slowly as realization set in.

.

.

Subaru had been on his way to compliment Kamui and see how he was doing when he saw Kotori kiss his cheek. Subaru smiled to himself, heart-warmed by the sincerely happy smile blossoming on Kamui's face.

"I remember when you were young and cute like that." Seishirou grinned, walking up beside him.

Subaru gave him a level look. "Yes but you were never as pretty as Kotori."

After a slightly stunned look Seishirou drew back with an overly dramatic pained face. "You mean you don't find me attractive?"

Subaru blushed and turned away to stare at the grass. "I never said that…"

Seishirou chuckled. "I take it back. You're still that cute."

Another song began and Seishirou held a hand out to him. "Shall we dance?"

Subaru's blush deepened. "I don't know how."

Seishirou raised an eyebrow. "You're from one of the most traditional families in all of Japan and they never made you take dance lessons?"

Subaru shook his head. "No they did, but I was only ever taught… how to lead."

Seishirou laughed again. "What makes you think I wouldn't let you lead?"

Subaru fidgeted slightly. "I don't want to."

With a softer smile, Seishirou took his hand. "Then just follow.".

.

.

Hokuto watched delightedly as Seishirou wrapped an arm around her brother's waist and led him into a waltz.

"Aren't they just too cute?" She asked Kakyou fondly.

Kakyou didn't even glance in their direction.

"Is something wrong?" Hokuto tilted her head, wondering why his gaze had not left her. "Do you want me to let you go and look around? You've been working really hard lately, I think you deserve it."

Kakyou shook his head.

Hokuto's confusion deepened. "Well then, what do you want to do?"

Kakyou took a deep breath as if he were about to plunge into cold water but found that even with that he couldn't convince himself to ask.

Hokuto stared at him for a long moment then broke into an inviting smile. "Hey Kakyou. Let's dance."

He followed her out onto the floor, knowing very well that he would follow her anywhere.

.

.

Karen gave a thumbs up to Kakyou when he glanced back at her for a moment over Hokuto's shoulder as they whirled by.

_It's about time._ She thought with an inward chuckle.

"Hey Dad."

Karen turned as Nataku chirped a greeting to her husband.

"For you." Seiichiro presented her with a red paper rose. "I rather liked the idea of bringing you one that wouldn't wither."

"Look Mommy! We match!" Kazuki proudly held out her own pink rose.

"We do!" Karen laughed.

A familiar tune began to play behind her and she and Seiichiro's eyes met as they both broke into smiles.

"Nataku, sweetie, do you think you could watch Kazuki for a few moments for me?" Karen tucked the flower into her hair.

"Uh-huh" Nataku took the little girl's hand as Seiichiro set her down beside him and took Karen's hand, following her out onto the dance floor.

"You remember it then?" She asked, settling a hand on his shoulder.

"Of course."

She laughed. "You say that like it's a given. Most men I know never even remember their anniversaries, much less the first song they danced to at their wedding."

Seiichiro chuckled and pulled her closer. He glanced up to check on the kids and laughed, nodding his head at them and turning so that Karen could see. She giggled to see that Nataku had taken Kazuki's hands and they were swaying with the music too.

.

.

Kusanagi sighed, mentally kicking himself for not finding a map of the campus. He had gotten himself so turned around that he had spent most of the afternoon wandering around, still trying to find the exit.

Just when he finally found a sign indicating the way out, a voice like sunshine called out to him. He turned, surprised to see Yuzuriha running to catch up, drawing strange looks in her kitten costume with its little jingling bell and furry black ears.

"Are you leaving already?"

Kusanagi nodded, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Yuzuriha's face fell. "Well… before you go… do you have a moment?"

"Yeah." Kusanagi shifted slightly, wanting more than anything to be out of there.

" I know that you probably don't want to hear this and I'm really sorry if this is just a burden to you but I really thought that I should say it one more time. I still really like you. I understand if you want me to go away- "

Kusanagi quickly shook his head. "Nono. I- I'm sorry Yuzuriha-chan."

She looked up at him, clutching at the edge of her apron still.

"I shouldn't have turned you away the first time around. It was, that is, I've missed you. You were fun to have around the shelter and the animals all seem to like you so much and well, if you wanted to come back… that'd be great actually…" He trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

"Really?" Yuzuriha's eyes shone in the lantern light with tears and hope.

"Yeah. I mean, I really do miss you. And you aren't a burden at all-"

Before Yuzuriha could respond though Yamazaki popped up beside them. "Did you know that the word 'burden' used to be two words?"

Yuzuriha gave him a curious look and Kusanagi drew back somewhat, startled by the boy's sudden appearance.

"Yes it actually used to be 'bird den' because birds used to live in dens instead of nests."

Kusanagi's brow furrowed.

"Oh really?" Yuzuriha asked with a giggle.

"Yes and whenever birds had to migrate they would have to carry their homes with them and dens were very heavy. That's how 'bird den' came to mean something heavy or difficult to manage. Then it just got squished together after being used repeatedly and now is the word 'burden'."

"But…" Kusanagi began with a befuddled frown before he was cut off by another student with brown pigtails snatching Yamazaki's collar and dragging him away, muttering.

"Oh my… it seems I'm becoming a bird den to her." Yamazaki observed cheerfully, seemingly unfazed by the gesture.

Kusanagi frown remained, however. "I'm pretty sure he was making that up."

Yuzuriha cracked up. "Oh I'm sure he was. Yamazaki does that a lot."

"Oh. Is he a good friend of yours?"

Yuzuriha thought on this for a moment. "I don't know if I would call him a good friend but he is nice and funny to talk to."

"Oh." The sun had at last set, leaving behind only strains of red tint to the violet velvet sky and Kusanagi could hear an announcement in the distance for some sort of demonstration. "Are you… interested in him by chance?"

Yuzuriha tilted her head. "Interested? I guess. He is interesting ." She giggled again. "As you saw."

"No I mean are you interested in dating him?"

"Oh! No! That's actually why I came over to you…" Yuzuriha's blush was warmly accentuated by the firefly shaped lanterns above their heads. "I thought when I first met him that maybe I did like him, you know, in that way. But then I saw you earlier at the café and I realized that Yamazaki- he's fun to talk to and all but he doesn't make my heart skip a beat when I see him."

Almost as if it thought it were a command, Kusanagi's own heart skipped a beat.

An announcer called out that this was everyone's last chance to dance over on a dance floor lit with golden lanterns.

Yuzuriha's smile brightened beyond even its usual cheerful radiance. "Can we dance?" She asked shyly.

Kusanagi laughed and took her hand.

.

.

Saya sighed and leaned her head on Tooru's shoulder, letting the other girl wrap an arm around her warmly.

"It's been a perfect day." She whispered as the dance floor began to fill with people.

Tooru agreed.

.

.

Kamui was still floating on a metaphorical cloud as he sat on the steps on the edge of the stage, watching all of the other participants dancing to the last song of the evening. He rested his chin in his hands, dreamily watching the colors shift and sway without really noticing much of anything until the swift movement of a dark shadow caught the corner of his eye. He turned quickly, suddenly more alert as a spiky-haired figure disappeared into the wooded area next to the stage. Kamui bolted to his feet and ran after the figure, certain he had recognized him in that brief flash. After several minutes of running, he found himself on the other side of the little woods, in front of the gazebo where he had once met Subaru on a regular basis.

He panted, scanning the area, every sense alert and tingling with anticipation. "Fuuma?" he called hopefully but there came no answer.

Disappointment welled up behind his eyes and Kamui wandered over to the marble table within the gazebo's ivy-clad columns and sat down.

"I don't know if you can hear me, Fuuma." He spoke into the darkness. "But I miss you. I still wish that I could see you again." Kamui sighed. "I wish.. I wish that things would go back to normal. You know, you me and Kotori just being friends again like we used to be when we were little." He laughed bitterly. "But I guess you wouldn't want things to go back to that would you? I never really appreciated you I guess. You were a really good friend. The best I ever had, in fact." Kamui laughed again, this time at himself. "I guess that's why they call it a best friend, huh? I'm sorry for everything that happened… before." He stood up and bit his lip, holding his breath for a moment before adding, "I love you.".

He waited several minutes, not daring to move, just in case Fuuma stepped out from wherever he was. If he was there at all.

But the silence just stretched on and on and with a heart heavy with regrets, Kamui made his way back to the festival.

At the edge of the woods near the dance floor, Kamui was startled to run into a silver-haired girl, standing off to one side alone, staring off into space.

"Hinoto?"

The look she gave him was unsettling.

"Do I know you?" She asked, in a distant voice.

"Oh, um, no. Sorry." Kamui awkwardly hurried away, realizing that she must not remember anything. Yet as he made his way to the parking lot where Subaru and Seishirou were waiting, he was certain felt a pair of eyes watching his every move.

.

.

_A/N: Whew. Okay. Done. Finally. As promised, the list and explanation of references to other CLAMP series!_

References to other CLAMP works that appeared in this chapter:

1. The Cat's Eye Café: This was the café that the group in Tsubasa opened in the video game world. Yuzuriha and Kusanagi actually appear as acquaintances in that particular arc and it is the first time Sakura and Syaoran meet either of them.

2. In that same section, Watanuki is mentioned by name and the "boy with a dark look about him" was meant to be a reference to Doumeki. The woman in the Chinese dress is of course Yuko and the black plushie is Black Mokona, all characters from XxxHolic.

3. The group that Kusanagi first sees Yuzuriha talking to (with the blue and white uniforms) is the kids from Angelic Layer. Specifically, the brown-haired girl is the main character, Misaki and the doll is her "angel", Hikaru (which in Angelic Layer was a reference to the main character of Magic Knight Rayearth). The guy in the glasses is "Icchan" and I had to include him somewhere because he always cracked me up. XD

4. The girl that Daisuke is making a flower for is Hinata and the bodyguard is Asou from Suki. (The bears have names too actually, they're Waka and Tono.)

5. Kentaro and Takeshi are from Duklyon CLAMP School Defenders; they're always running off in the middle of things to defend the school from random, Power-Rangers-level-of-ridiculous villains.

6. Miyuki is from Miyuki-chan in Wonderland; if you've never read it, it's entirely her getting molested by half-to-completely-naked women.

7. Chun Hyang is the main character of the Legend of Chun Hyang (although more likely you've seen the little version of her in Tsubasa).

8. The teacher and student that Seishirou mentions being awfully close are Rika and Terada. I mentioned them earlier in this story too but in case you guys didn't know, they're from Cardcaptor Sakura as well and were romantically involved in that story despite an enormous age gap.

9. The blond cooking teacher at the Cat's Eye Café is Yuui from Shiritsu Horitsuba Gakuen, which was a set of short stories CLAMP did as a kind of spin-off of XxxHolic and Tsubasa. In them, the main characters of both series are all either students, teachers, or in Yuko's case, the chairman, of a school called Horitsuba and Yuui (Fai's twin from Tsubasa; they reversed their names in Horitsuba) is a cooking teacher. Fai is in the stories too and is mentioned here as the one wearing a woman's kimono (as he did in Horitsuba. XD)

10. In the same section, Nokoru shows up in X of course, so he should be familiar even if that's all you've read but I did want to point out that he was originally from CLAMP School Detectives and in X was in fact the chairman of CLAMP school.

11. The girl that designed and made all of the clothes for the fashion show, you have probably guessed, is Tomoyo from Cardcaptor Sakura. From the same series, Sakura herself of course is mentioned, as well as her mother, Nadeshiko, who they say in the series used to be a model. Syaoran is also vaguely mentioned, or at least that's who I meant to reference with the embarrassed boy in the green outfit. :P

12. Yamazaki I said in a previous chapter was from Cardcaptor Sakura. The girl who drags him away from Yuzuriha and Kusanagi is Chiharu who he seems to be romantically involved with in the original series.


	18. Experimentation

_Author's Note: Sorry for taking so long to update this story lately! But anyway, here is Chapter 18: In which Kanoe buys a snowglobe and Yuuto and Satsuki get a little kinky._

.

.

She wanted him back.

She couldn't help it. There was something inexplicably adorable about the boy despite his scatter-brained and slightly, okay completely, useless nature. Or was it perhaps _because_ of that that he was adorable? Kanoe wasn't sure. All she knew was that she had fired Keiichi a week ago for spilling her latte all over a stack of important documents after a long string of other minor disasters all caused by some sort of mishap on his part.

It had started on the very first day he had been working for her with the whole unplugging her computer in the middle of typing up a long report as he had been reaching under the desk to retrieve a dropped pen. The entire report, which until then had taken several hours to type was completely gone and had to be started over from scratch.

Then again, he had apologized profusely for it and stayed four hours late that day to help her finish.

Of course a couple of days later there was the incident with the bus that he had missed, causing him to be late. He had been so worried about making it to work on time that he didn't notice her walking up the steps to the building herself and ran straight into her, sending her umbrella flying and the both of them tumbling down the steps to the puddle-strewn bottom. That skirt suit had been expensive too and was completely ruined.

Although he had taken it home with the promise of bringing it back "good as new".

Unfortunately he hadn't had the slightest idea what he was doing and brought the once sleek black suit back a strange shade of green with the hem falling apart, the collar torn, and one sleeve significantly longer than the other for some reason.

Of course, that had given her an excuse to buy a new suit, and just in time for the big meeting that had been coming up.

Which, now that she thought about it, Keiichi had also ruined by tripping over a power cord as he had walked into the room, landing face-first in the cleavage of the CEO whose company had been looking into sponsoring them and effectively ruining a partnership that had been five years in the making.

Kanoe rubbed her temple at the memories of all of the things the boy had managed to completely muck up. There was something about Keiichi that simply invited disaster, even when he wasn't trying. She still remembered the time he was attacked by a dog on the way back from the coffee shop, and the time he had gotten stuck when the elevator doors malfunctioned and closed down on him.

Yet through it all, the boy always had a smile. No matter what misfortunes befell him, that shiny, innocent smile never seemed to leave his face. Kanoe didn't know how he hadn't become embittered yet, ruing his rotten luck at every turn. How many times could someone fall before they could no longer drag themselves back into the saddle, she wondered. Even when she had fired him, he had given her a sheepish smile.

_"Yeah. I figured you would want to be rid of me sometime."_

He had packed up his things into his messy old book bag and been gone by the time she got back from lunch, without pressing any objections, or leaving any indication that he had been there, beyond the disarray of a stack of papers he must have knocked over on the way out and hastily gathered back up.

Now her office was much neater and her meetings ran much more smoothly. Her clothes were all intact and she had repaired relations with the other company.

And yet…

Kanoe sighed and picked up the telephone, asking for Keiichi when a woman's voice answered.

There was a long pause and Kanoe thought for a second that the line had disconnected or the woman had hung up on her.

"Hello?"

"Who is this?" The woman inquired.

"This is his boss."

"Oh, I am sorry ma'am but… well have you not heard?"

Kanoe felt her heart leap into her throat. "Heard what?"

"Keiichi's mother passed away just this morning. He's at the hospital still, making funeral arrangements."

Kanoe closed her eyes and asked which hospital before hanging up and grabbing her purse.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry? Another lunch "date" perhaps?" a teasing voice inquired as she hurried past the cubicles.

"Shut up Yuuto." She snapped before vanishing into the hallway.

The hospital was not far but Kanoe was distracted on her way, as a hodgepodge little set of trinkets in a shop window caught her eye. She backpedaled slightly and entered the store, stepping back out with a small paper bag in hand a moment later.

When she reached the hospital, it didn't take long to find Keiichi as he was in the waiting room, getting ready to leave. For the first time since Kanoe had met him, he wasn't wearing his usual goofy smile and her heart fell at the sight.

"Keiichi…"

He jerked his head up at the sound of her voice and nearly stumbled into a nurse.

"Ah… Kanoe-san." He flashed her a much weaker, forced version of his characteristic grin.

"Are you alright?" She asked, lamely, realizing what a stupid question it was the moment the words left her mouth.

Keiichi nodded and his smile widened, even as his eyes obviously dampened.

"I brought you something."Kanoe held up the bag, not knowing what else to say.

They took seats in cold plastic chairs in the corner of the waiting room and Keiichi took the bag, pulling out a small Snowglobe that had a little model of Tokyo Tower in it, and rather than snow, tiny sakura petals that swirled around it when shaken. Keiichi laughed and shook the globe, causing the miniature petals to nearly conceal the tower for a moment a little whirlwind.

Something suddenly nagged at the back of Kanoe's mind, something important that she was forgetting…

"Thank you." Keiichi held the Snowglobe with both hands as though it were not a cheap souvenir, but a precious memory that he couldn't bear to lose.

Kanoe shrugged. "Well I remember the first day you showed up in my office, you said that you liked Snowglobes."

Keiichi nodded. "My mother used to collect them."

Kanoe's heart stopped.

"I guess that's where I got it from. So whenever I would go somewhere on a school trip or she went on a business trip, we always brought back Snowglobes to add to our collection. She used to have one of Tokyo Tower once but I broke it by bumping the cabinet vacuuming one day. I think she would be really happy to know that it's finally been replaced."

Kanoe stared at her hands, folded neatly in her lap. "What was she like?"

"Oh she was kind!" Keiichi enthusiastically declared. "And a great cook! No one could make takoyaki or stewed beef quite like my mother!"

Kanoe laughed and listened to him talk until evening began to fall, dowsing the waiting room in a warm glow.

"I guess I should head home… I need to call the family…" Keiichi reluctantly stood.

"Keiichi-kun," Kanoe stopped him. "The real reason I wanted to talk to you originally… I wanted to offer you your job back."

The boy's eyes widened in surprise.

"I mean obviously I don't expect you to be at work tomorrow morning or anything like that but if you're willing to come be my intern again-"

"Yes!" He cried. "Oh yes, I'll do it! I thought… well I thought you had gotten tired of me messing up all the time to be honest, but if you still want me then absolutely! I'll be in first thing in the morning!"

"You don't have to do that, hon, you're in mourning…"

"No," Keiichi pleaded. "Please, I don't want to sit at home."

Kanoe hesitated then nodded. "Alright then. Tomorrow morning."

Keiichi smiled and looked down at the Snowglobe. "Thank you." He repeated before leaving the hospital, clutching the trinket protectively to his chest and smiling once more as if everything were going to be just fine.

As she was walking home she passed a temple and glanced in at the grounds, a flash of something flowing and silvery catching her eye as the wind caught it in a fleeting dance. She realized it was a young woman's hair and stopped dead in her tracks.

_"I can't actually foresee the future, just my sister can." She traced her fingertips down Yuuto's bare abs._

_"Does she tell you everything that is going to happen?" _

_"No. I walk in her dreams and see for myself."_

_Yuuto raised an eyebrow and pushed her hair aside to brush his lips against her shoulder. "And what do you see?"_

_She brushed a hand over the folds of the sheets draped casually over his waist."With regards to you or with regards to the world?"_

_Yuuto laughed that slippery laugh of his."The world. I'll find out my own fate sooner or later."_

_Kanoe looked him in the eye._

_"I see destruction."_

Kanoe gasped for air, suddenly aware that she was on her knees somehow, still outside the temple and her heart was racing.

"Are you alright?" A soft voice asked above her.

_A loud groan of metal shook the ground as the top of Tokyo Tower gave a sickening lurch and then began to fall… and with it went humanity…_

Kanoe jerked back from the girl's touch as though she had been burned.

"Who are you?" she demanded, then quickly shook her head. "Sorry, I just, I'm a little dizzy is all. Haven't eaten, you know how it is."

She quickly pulled herself to her feet, avoiding the girl's haunting gaze as well as she could as she hurried away with the image of sakura petals swirling around a falling tower clinging to her memories.

.

.

Before she had had sex, Satsuki had never known what the big deal about it was.

Now that she had, she still didn't.

Oh sure, it was enjoyable and all; science didn't lie, the release of oxytocin and endorphins was indeed nice. She simply did not see what made sex any more spectacular than any other mildly pleasant experience she had encountered.

She had done her research beforehand and was appalled to find that it was customary to "snuggle" afterward. Her one concern all along had been that Yuuto would do just that but much to her relief, he refrained. Now he was fast asleep beside her as she worked from her laptop in bed.

_So trusting._ She thought to herself then turned to scrutinize the sleeping man.

Yuuto was not the sort who could be called gullible per se. Certainly he was not generally easily taken in or caught unawares from what Satsuki had seen so far of him. No, gullible implied being overly trusting of people and Yuuto was anything but trusting of other humans. She supposed he knew better than to be, as he was a less than trustworthy fellow himself.

However, that cynicism with regards to people somehow did not carry over into other aspects of his expectations of the world. For some reason, he never seemed to worry that a situation would go badly, or that life could somehow take a turn for the worse without his control. If anything, he almost seemed to prefer the idea that fate was completely out of his hands. Certainly it removed responsibility and blame from his shoulders, and she could see why that would appeal to Yuuto, with his tendency to avoid both of those things like the plague. On the other hand, it also removed the notion that he might have control over his own future. Satsuki hated not having control, but Yuuto… Yuuto seemed to prefer it.

She thought about this for a moment, then decided that like any good scientist, she should test her hypothesis so she quietly slipped out of bed and padded out of the room. She was pretty sure she still had some broken cables around here somewhere…

.

.

Yuuto was usually pretty good at remembering where he had fallen asleep last, having trained himself to do so after making the mistake of calling a young woman by the wrong name the morning after a rather sensational night with her. As such, he was unsurprised to wake up and find himself in Satsuki's bed. What was surprising was the computer cords binding his hands to the headboard.

Surprising… and also a little arousing.

He lifted his head as much as he could to see Satsuki on the other side of the room, sitting in a chair, still playing with her laptop. She lifted her head at the sound of the sheets rustling.

"Ah. You're awake." She closed the computer and turned the chair around to reveal that she was stark naked.

Oh this little scenario was just getting better.

"Certainly getting there." Yuuto grinned.

Satsuki smiled and threw sheets draped over him a pointed look. "So I see."

"And to what do I owe the pleasure of this… intriguing little fantasy?" Yuuto toyed with the frayed edge of one of the copper wires around his wrist, amused by the appropriateness of this little twist on bondage.

"It was just an experiment to see how you would react." Satsuki informed him rather matter-of-factly.

"Uh-huh. And did I meet your expectations?"

"So far you have."

Yuuto's grinned widened. "So far?"

"Obviously there is more to the experiment than just that."

"Well then we should get on that shouldn't we?"

Satsuki agreed and joined him on the bed.

.

.

Several hours later, Satsuki lay in bed, sleepily processing the evening's events. Certainly the night had been rather enjoyable and Yuuto had reacted just as she had expected him to.

Yet something felt… off. Satsuki did not believe in intuition, she merely explained it as the human ability to recognize and intake data subconsciously, similarly process it, and use that data to later recognize patterns. No matter what the cause though, something had triggered some memory that she was frustrated to find she could not quite recall now. It had happened when Yuuto had sleepily suggested that next time maybe Satsuki should be the one tied up. She had balked very suddenly, a strange panic coursing through her.

_Why?_

She stared at a bit of wire still slung over the headboard then let her eyes wander down it to the sleeping man beside her.

_It was because of him._

She wondered what that sentence meant, why it had inexplicably echoed at the back of her mind, as she drifted into sleep.

_Jealous. The machine was jealous._

_Wires wrapped around her neck and she pulled and pulled but they only grew tighter…_

_"Yuuto!"_

_She couldn't breathe…_

_In the struggle, her glasses slipped off of her face and fell to the ground with the audible crash of breaking glass. She could just barely make out flames on the screen in front of her, blurry and indistinct._

_She couldn't…_

Satsuki jerked awake as Yuuto turned over in his sleep. She lay in bed, trying to catch her breath and tried to remember what she had just been dreaming about but it had already faded away. Annoyed and frustrated, she rolled over to face the wall and tried to fall back asleep as some forgotten event quietly tried to worm its way back into her memories.


	19. The Library

_Author's Note: So the reason for all the sudden updates and writing is that I've decided as a New Year's Resolution to try and write 300,000 words over the course of 2011. (This allows for about 1,000 words a day leaving time to take days off here and there. :P) I apologize for flooding inboxes and taking over the update page! ^^; But we'll see how it goes. :D Trying to get the wordcount up before school starts again. I figure if I'm ahead then I don't have to worry about not writing for days thanks to assignments and whatnot. XD  
_

_._

_.  
_

_A sandbox._

_A cross._

_"KAMUI!"_

Kotori shifted nervously in her sleep.

_Pinky promise. _

_She felt the hook of a tiny finger under her own small digit, skin against skin and it felt too real, too much a lie…_

_She jerked back and shards crashed down between her and the little dark-haired boy in the sandbox. _

_Shards?_

_She looked up and saw a shattering sphere…_

_Blue._

_Like the sky!_

_Like Kamui's eyes…_

_She plunged into blue waters, watching mermaids embrace as a burning shipwreck sank around them, driftwood and iron floating eerily to the bottom of the ocean to never be seen by living man again. Glass shards sank with it and Kotori swam closer, reaching out to grasp a piece._

_Japan._

_A boy's scream._

_Cords wrapped around her body, suspending her in midair for a moment before lashing her to broken beams._

_A cross._

_Sandbox…_

_Kamui promised…_

_She saw the flash of the blade as it descended on her, but she wouldn't have stopped it, even if her arms and legs had not been bound by the powerlines._

Kotori jerked awake with a small scream, muffled by her pillow. She jackknifed into a sitting position, staring at her room, trying to catch her breath. Remember the last few flashes of images in the dream, she raised a hand to her chest but felt nothing more than the frill of her nightgown over her heart.

"I didn't know Kamui when I was little." She informed her teddy bear. "I didn't, really. So why would I dream about him as a little boy?"

The stuffed animal offered no explanation and Kotori realized this wasn't a problem she could easily resolve by discussing it with a plushie.

She sighed and lay back down, cradling the bear close, wondering why that pinkie promise had felt so real.

.

.

Kamui had expected a sizeable room with a lot of shelves with books on them. He had obviously severely underestimated the CLAMP Campus Library.

He gulped and tried to steady himself as he dizzily walked to a receptionist desk, wondering what kind of library had eighteen floors and what they were all for. He also wondered if anyone had ever jumped from the balconies of the highest floors down to the fountain in the center of the ground level room with the waterfall descending straight from the glass-tiled ceiling.

"Um… hi…" he choked to the help desk lady with her short pink hair, curled delicately under. "I- I need to do some research."

"Okay. On what?"

"On a historical figure, popular culture figure, political figure or otherwise?"

"I… um?"

Catching his overwhelmed expression, the girl backtracked. "Let's start slower. Living or dead?"

Kamui felt the question like a kick in the gut. Nausea washed over him that had nothing to do with the library and everything to do with the realization that he didn't know the answer to that question.

"Alive." He answered with a fierceness even as fear coiled in his stomach that it was the wrong answer.

"Okay. Is this for a class?"

"No, this is… an old friend I've been trying to locate." Kamui took a deep breath and attempted to steady himself.

"Oh I see, then you'll want to look through our databases on the 5th floor, north wing, section 12B." The girl immediately responded.

"Huh?"

She picked up a piece of paper and pencil to jot down the information and handed it to him.

"Um, thanks." Kamui stared blankly at it then wandered away to his left.

"The elevators are this way." A soft voice called behind him and he turned to see a smiling girl with brown braids and glasses pointing in the opposite direction. "You're new here aren't you? Would you like me to show you the way?"

Kamui nodded gratefully and followed her to the elevators. As soon as the doors were shut the girl gave him a gentle smile. "My name is Kaede by the way." She told him. "What's yours?"

"Kamui."

"One who represents the majesty of the gods." The girl immediately supplied. "Or seeks it."

Kamui stared at her but then the doors opened.

"Sorry my health isn't so good so I'm stuck indoors most of the time." The girl hastily explained, realizing that she had made him uncomfortable. "When you read as much as I do you pick up these things."

"Oh…"

"This is the North Wing." The girl announced as they entered it. "Which section did she tell you?"

"12B" Kamui read off the paper awkwardly.

"Okay!" The girl smiled brightly continued to lead him around the wide circle of the floor. "Are you trying to look someone up?"

"Yeah… yeah I am. Do you know this section well or something?"

She shook her head. "Not better than any other section here. But I spend a lot of time at the library."

"Oh yeah, you said you read a lot…"

"Right. And really, you get to know it pretty fast. I know it looks overwhelming right now, but it's not so bad, honest." She consoled.

Kamui frowned slightly, eyeing the other side of the circular balcony and the floors that loomed up above him and continued down below him.

"Ah here we go. 12B!" Kaede announced, leading him between two marble columns marked with golden numbers and letters into an area full of computers and a back wall lined with file cabinets. "Do you want some help using the system?" She offered.

Kamui nodded gratefully, sure that the computer system would be every bit as complicated as the library itself.

Moments later though, with Kaede's generous help, he was beginning to relax. It was easier to navigate than he had expected and the sound of the waterfall, although imposing when he first entered the building had dulled to a soothing white noise that peacefully erased the sounds of people talking or moving around. He wondered vaguely if that was the point.

Unfortunately, there was still no trace of Fuuma in the system.

Kaede frowned at the screen. "That's really odd."

"Huh?" Kamui dropped his chin to his hands in disappointment.

"This database… we have all of the government's records and then some…"

Kamui turned to stare at her. "Is that even legal?"

"CLAMP school has some special privileges." She replied lightly. "But your friend… if he's not in here I have no idea where he would be."

Kamui felt his shoulders droop.

"I mean for him to not even appear in our files, it's like… like he never existed."

Kamui folded his arms on the table in front of the keyboard and buried his face in his arms. "Maybe he didn't."

Kaede gasped. "You mean you think you imagined him?"

"No, I- Oh nevermind. Thank you for helping." Kamui shook his head and stood up.

She hesitated but eventually bid him goodbye and good luck before wandering off to continue her own business.

Kamui meanwhile, intended to leave, simply returning home after his latest defeat, but found himself meandering around the rest of the floor, intrigued by the various wings with their sprawling sections each devoted to various computer stations and what appeared to be card catalogues.

Curiosity beginning to sneak in beneath his misery, Kamui found himself entering an elevator and pressing the six rather than the button to return him to the ground floor.

The north wing of this floor was filled with catalogues too, but they were broader in shape than the last ones. He casually riffled through one to discover that it was full of sheet music. Surprised that a whole wing would be devoted to this, Kamui crept around the edge of the balcony to the next wing and found that it was a museum of instruments, that claimed to have one of every single instrument currently known to mankind. He wandered through the floor, completely absorbed by the cases containing the instruments he recognized, such as violins and pianos, as well as those he did not recognize, and would not have even known were instruments had they not been displayed here.

He hungrily read explanation after explanation of the instruments' origins, relatives in the musical world, and scanned depictions of how they were played and the cultural significances they held. It was not until his cell phone buzzed in his pocket to announce a text message from a classmate asking about a homework assignment that he realized it had been hours since he first entered the library.

With a mild swear, he hurried back to the elevator, remembering that he had told Subaru he would be a little late coming home from school, but not hours late. As the elevator doors eased closed in front of him, Kamui stared back at the expansive library and vowed to come back.

.

.

In Kakyou's dream, he saw the world: a shining perfect marble of crystalline blue swirled with white strains of clouds and ice as well as earthy green and brown touches, representing the continents inhabited by his own species.

It was beautiful.

It was home.

Kakyou smiled at the globe hanging before him, suspended in a dark vacuum, but glowing with a welcoming light all its own.

It was perfect.

He breathed deeply and closed his eyes, relishing the faint scent of an ocean breeze that tickled the back of his mind.

Then a tiny sound ruptured his serenity: the thin, fragile sound of glass cracking. His eyes flew open and he stared at his perfect, wonderful marble of a planet in horror as a thin line marred its surface. He held his breath, as though the movement of an exhale would add to the destruction and watched the earth, terrified that it was about to shatter completely before his eyes.

It held though and after several moments, he breathed a sigh of almost relief. The world was safe for now.

But that crack…

Kakyou felt cold fingers wrap around his heart and squeeze.

Perhaps all of the warmth and happiness he thought he had found here was not as secure as he had believed.

A room splattered with viscous gore as threads of fate ripped a woman apart, leaving a corporeal mess on the walls and floor, macabre foreshadowing to her daughter's destiny.

Sakura blossoms brushed across his memories in a bloody snow flurry as a figure in white collapsed, prayer beads crashing to the ground.

_The first deaths._ He reminded himself.

"Hokuto… chan…"

Her smile, her laugh, her hand warm around his as she pulled him onto the dance floor… All of that gone in an instant…

No. He wouldn't allow it. Not this time. He was no longer bound by a predestined fate. He could _change_ the future here.

Couldn't he?

Hokuto was such a unique individual, such a gem sparkling among the everyday crowd. He wanted to protect her, had always wanted to.

Kakyou raised his chin defiantly. He could and he would.

The question was just how.


	20. To the Beach Soon

_Author's Note: Sorry guys, not much happens in this chapter, it's just sort of a lead-in to the next one. XD All these months of not writing and then I post this crap right? Thanks to everyone who is still bothering to read! XD_

.

"A beach house?"

"Yeah, Hokuto's company is doing some sort of big promotion thing this season that's going to keep them out by the beach for several days and since she has a big place she's using there, she invited the three of us along."

Kamui tried, with difficulty, to imagine straight-laced Seishirou in a swimsuit and coughed to cover his laugh as his mind immediately went to a bikini. Seishirou gave him a sharp look across the table as though he had guessed what Kamui had been thinking, making him wonder once again if the man was psychic.

"We don't have to go if you don't want to, or if you're not feeling well." Subaru added quickly, looking concerned.

"No, it sounds great!"

Subaru gave him a warm smile as he refilled his coffee cup. "Then we'll leave two or three days after school lets out."

Kamui beamed as he gathered up his backpack but couldn't help but notice Seishirou still shrewdly watching him. He wondered what the bastard had been up to lately that had him so on edge these days. Subaru didn't seem to have noticed, but Kamui wondered about the unusually long shifts Seishirou claimed to be working. He didn't believe for one moment that it was really just because the hospital was understaffed right now.

The few moments of blissful imagination of happy, sunny days were suddenly marred by the image of Seishirou trying to drown in him the waves and Kamui scowled as he walked out the door.

"Hey there, Mr. Grouchy-Pants!" Yuzuriha bounded up beside him. "What's gotcha so frowny this morning?"

"Nothing." Kamui hastily replied.

"Oh c'mon!" Sorata came up on his other side with a hearty slap on the back. "You know you can tell us!"

Kamui remained silent though. He had considered it before of course, telling the two of them everything. He wondered sometimes if their memories would be triggered by him telling them what had happened before or if they would label him as officially insane and laugh it off as they did so much else in their lives.

Sensing that Kamui was in no mood to talk about whatever was bothering him this morning, Sorata quickly changed the subject.

"Hey! I had an awesome dream last night!" He announced.

"Ooo, was it as good as that one where you and I were pandas that lived on the moon?" Yuzuriha inquired, looking hopefully across Kamui.

"Better! I could control lightning!"

Kamui's head snapped up from where he'd been staring at his shoes as Sorata continued recounting his dream.

"And I was part of this special group of people who all had some kind of nifty power like that; I think you were one of them too Yuzuriha, although I don't remember the rest. And we were supposed to be saving the world!"

Kamui stared at him but Sorata didn't seem to notice as he was staring at the front gate of the school, where Arashi was standing with a small blush and pretending not to notice him. "Onee-san!"

"Are you okay, Kamui?" Yuzuriha asked softly as Sorata dashed away to join her.

He nodded, feeling distinctly uncomfortable as she eyed him carefully. It was all too easy sometimes to forget how sharp Yuzuriha was underneath her sunny disposition.

"Sometimes I dream about magic powers too." She added hesitantly, testing the waters. "Do you ever have those kinds of dreams?" She asked him in a tone that was too forcefully light to be purely conversational.

Kamui gulped but was spared answering by Kotori throwing her arms around him.

"Kamui-chan! Good morning!"

He felt his face heat up as Yuzuriha stared at the two of them with open curiosity.

"You're the girl from the arts festival aren't you?" She asked Kotori. "The one he was dancing with?"

"Yeah!" Kotori beamed at her. "Did you come dance too?"

"I did there at the end; it was really fun!"

They had never really met before, Kamui realized. Two cheerful girls, both of whom had meant a great deal to him in his life before, had never actually had a conversation with one another. It was a strange feeling watching them take so quickly to one another now.

It was still surreal to see all of his friends alive and well, but in a way that made him feel like he was in a fantastic dream from which he never wanted to wake up. The Seals were all alive, they all seemed happy and were building lives unfettered by the knowledge that their fates were inextricably tied to the end of the world. The Angels too, at least those that he had known, were doing the same. Nearly everyone was accounted for.

So why wasn't Fuuma?

He knew it was obsessive, but he always came back to the same question. Why wasn't Fuuma enjoying a normal, happy life like everyone else was?

Or was he and he was just doing so elsewhere? Kamui wondered about that possibility. Maybe Fuuma had been given another chance at happiness, just not in the same place as everyone else. However, this raised its own question: why wouldn't Fuuma be happy with the rest of them?

.

.

"So we've been hiking or going to the park almost every weekend since the festival. Yuzuriha remarked as she dragged out a fresh bag of dog food. "We should do something different for once don't you think?"

Kusanagi ripped the bag open and began pouring. "I was thinking we could actually go to the beach sometime once you're on summer vacation."

She gasped in delight. "Really?"

"Yeah, I was thinking Sorata could come along too and we could spend a weekend there or something. It would be a nice change of pace."

"It really would!" Yuzuriha sighed happily. "Inuki can come too right?"

"Of course! I'm sure he'll have a great time at the beach. Can't you just see him chasing sea gulls and trying to bite the waves?"

Yuzuriha laughed, hugging the grinning puppy as he bounced by after the food.

"A weekend at the beach…" Yuzuriha beamed at him. "It really is perfect Kusanagi."

His heart leapt at the praise and happiness in her voice and Kusanagi immediately felt ashamed. She was so young… how could he possibly think of her as anything romantic. He thought back on what Subaru had told him and tried to console himself again with the notion that no one chooses who they fall in love with. All they can choose is what to do with that.

He watched Yuzuriha happily tossing a ball across the room for the puppies to chase, laughing at the way their uncoordinated little paws slid and skittered slightly.

_I'll stay by her and look after her_. He thought to himself. _There's no harm in that, right?_

_Right?_

.

.

"Hey Satsuki." Yuuto kicked off and let the office chair roll back next to hers, bumping against the desk corner with the soft thud of padded leather on wood.

"What." She answered flatly, her fingers busy flying across the keys in front of her.

"You ever get out?"

"You dragged me to the water park that one time." Her eyes remained glued to the screen but she could see out of the corner of them how he slumped against the desk, his chin propped casually up in his hand.

"Yeah I know, but I mean do you ever leave Tokyo?"

"Why would I need to leave Tokyo?"

"It's not about _needing_ to." Yuuto half-whined. "It's about wanting to."

"Why would I want to leave Tokyo?"

He fiddled with a usb drive he had found lying around. "Surely you don't think the city is just that great."

"Of course not. Tokyo is filled with crime, pollution, and various social issues like every other major city. There is absolutely nothing special about it."

"Then why not go somewhere else?"

"Weren't you listening? Tokyo is like every other city. Why would I need to go to another one?"

Yuuto sighed wearily. "I wasn't thinking about going to another city."

"Where were you thinking of then?"

"I dunno, somewhere more chill. Like the countryside. Or the beach."

At this, Satsuki stopped typing abruptly and turned her chair to face him directly with a disapproving glare. "The beach."

"Yeah!"

Even in the dim glow of the monitors, she could see the way his eyes lit up and she tried to push back down her gut response urging her to go along with it just to see him smile like that more.

"Why would I want to go to the beach?"

"To feel the wind in your hair!"

"Blowing it straight into my eyes probably."

"To smell the salt of the ocean!"

"And probably some dead fish as well."

"To feel the sand beneath your toes!"

"As well as fleas."

"To swim with the dolphins!"

"And sharks and jellyfish and stingrays."

"Oh come on." Yuuto rolled his chair up to hers until their knees were touching. "I taught you how to swim in the pool, but don't you want to try swimming out in the vast waters of the ocean? Don't you just want to see something _new_?"

"I don't need something new when I'm satisfied with the old."

Yuuto rolled his eyes. "Okay well then how about this? I want to go to the beach. Would you come with me?"

"Fine."

He stared at her in disbelief, another argument dying on his tongue. "Really?"

"Yes."

"That was all it took?"

She pushed back and spun around to get back to work. "All you had to do was ask. Maybe that will teach you to be more upfront."

He stared at the back of her chair for a long time before he began to laugh.

.

.

"Mommy, mommy, mommy!" Nataku skidded into the kitchen, his socks losing purchase on the freshly polished floor, sending him tumbling down. "Oof!"

"What is it sweetheart?" Karen asked, swooping him up and plopping him down in his favorite spot on the counter beside where she was mixing cake batter.

"At school were learning about shellfish today!"

"Ooo how exciting." She held up the spoon for him to lick off the remainder of the batter while she poured it into a pan.

"Yeah! It was really cool! Did you know that Herman crabs carry their houses around with them?"

"Hermit crabs."

"Yeah, those guys! Wouldn't it be weird if we carried our houses everywhere we went?"

Karen chuckled and dabbed a little smudge of batter on the end of his nose. "That would get heavy in a hurry."

"I know! But how come they do that? Is it like how you carry a purse just in case we need kleenex?"

Karen laughed again. "Maybe."

"Can we go see some Herbert crabs, Mommy?"

She kissed his forehead. "I'll talk to Daddy and see when he has a few days off and we'll think about it, okay sweetie?"

"Yay!" He slid off the countertop and Karen heard him patter away into Kazuki's playroom to tell her the good news.

.

.

Tooru missed the ocean. She couldn't quite put her finger on why as she had not actually been there since she was a small child and even then was not particularly entranced by it. Sand was less than elegant, especially when it got stuck in your swimsuit. Nonetheless, she felt a pull to return to the seaside. Maybe it was the way Saya's hair rippled over the picnic blanket like golden waves that had made her think of it.

She leaned down to kiss her on the forehead, amused that she didn't even stir from the afternoon nap.

Actually, Saya had been sleeping an awful lot lately. Tooru wondered if something was bothering her that was keeping her up at night, or if she was just taking on a lot lately with school and voice lessons and whatnot. Either way, she figured she could use a break from everything.

_We can go together._ She thought happily and satisfied with this decision, she curled up beside Saya, letting the sunlight settle over her like a warm duvet, sending her into pleasant dreams as well.


	21. Beginning of the End

_Author's Note: Heehee, sorry for not updating this story in forever. ^^;; I finally got the X anime and I've been distracted by making amv's. (And yes, some of them are up on youtube under the same name I use for stories. :P) At any rate, here is finally a new chapter! :D I apologize in advance to all those who were only reading this because they wanted something all fluff…_

_._

_._

Subaru had nothing to do.

He wasn't exactly sure how that had happened. Well no, that wasn't entirely true. It was Kamui's last week of classes, so he was still at school and Seishirou was at work. Normally Subaru would be working now too but he had generously offered to switch schedules with a coworker at the clinic and so for the first time in quite a while, he not only had a day off but had the apartment to himself as well. He supposed that he should enjoy it so relocated a book he had once been reading and put aside ages ago, and settled down on the sofa, intending to just lose himself in the story for once.

It worked for a little while, but eventually he grew restless and set the book aside with a sigh. What had he done before when he had time to himself? When was the last time he did really, he wondered. Then it struck him that the last time Subaru had had the apartment to himself for an extended period of time was before Kamui had arrived. And with him, all the memories…

Subaru shook his head. He couldn't sit here and wallow. He wouldn't go back down that road again; he'd already decided that what was past was past. He had a new life, a fresh start, and he had no intention of wasting it. This still, however, left him with the question of what to do in the meantime. Finally an idea struck him and he smiled softly to himself as he rose to go to the kitchen.

It was just past noon when he arrived at the hospital with the bentos. A waiting room attendant recognized him and gave a friendly smile, explaining that Seishirou was still in the middle of an operation that was taking a little longer than originally expected. She must have caught the edge of disappointment on Subaru's face though and quickly added that they were nearly finished and he would probably be out soon.

Subaru nodded and took a seat on one of the cold plastic chairs lining the walls, feeling like something was not quite right but several long silent moments ticked by before it dawned on him. The waiting room was empty. When had a waiting room at a hospital ever once been empty like this? There were always a few people here and there with the flu, or a badly scraped knee if nothing else. In the middle of a big city like Tokyo, there was always, _always_ someone to attend to. Where were they all? Everything couldn't really just be okay could it?

Or was Subaru over-thinking things? Maybe the hospital staff was just particularly on top of things today. Maybe there just weren't that many emergencies today. Maybe everything was alright and Subaru just couldn't process the peacefulness of it all. He wondered if it had really been so long since everything had been okay that he had forgot how to relax when it was. He sighed, mentally chiding himself for being so on edge today.

"Seriously? Did you tell him to back off then?" Subaru's head swept around and genuine relief washed over him as he realized that he wasn't completely alone. Two staff members disappeared down the hallway, too caught up in their discussion to notice him there.

He sank back against the plastic, resting his head against the wall. It wasn't so bad really, just waiting. The patience he had been known for as a child had only deepened with each passing year and now Subaru was quite a pro at waiting. He let his mind wander to Kamui and his lack of patience. For all their similarities, it was one marked difference between the two of them that Kamui had a more restless, feisty nature; he was quicker to anger, and more easily frustrated. He was more like Hokuto really in that regard. It was difficult for Subaru to imagine being like that himself but when he was younger, he remembered that sometimes, very deep down, he would fear that it meant he didn't care as much as Hokuto did about things, that he didn't love as much. He smiled faintly at his own silliness.

His thoughts were interrupted just then by the waiting room door swinging open and a figure slumping against it as they stumbled into the room silhouetted by the blinding summer sun outside. Subaru jerked away from the wall, glancing down the hallway, wondering where the staff members had disappeared to. He knew better than to interfere with a professional's job but there was no one else around. Where were they?

He jumped up and ran to the door, realizing that it was a young woman who seemed to be simultaneously trying to curl into herself and pull herself up by the molding halfway up the waiting room wall. Subaru noticed with a sickening lurch that her hands and arms were covered with blooded scratches and scrapes as if she had been trying to fend someone off. He felt a twinge of pain as he noticed the ripped skirt, the bruises on her legs…

"Are you okay?" He asked reflexively and immediately regretted such a stupid question. "Here." He knelt down, intending to help her up but the girl recoiled.

"Get away from me!" She screamed.

Subaru wavered but did not back away. "You're hurt." He told her in the voice he used to coax injured pets out of the backs of the cages when they got spooked. "Let me help you."

"No!"

"Ple-"

"I hate you!" the girl shrieked. "I hate all of you! You're all just lying assholes!"

Subaru's eyes widened and he froze with his hands still outstretched toward her. "What?"

"I wish all men would just disappear!"

He saw the flash of metal and instinct made him jerk back but not quite quickly enough. He winced slightly as he felt a slashing sting across his cheek.

"You should all just die!"

Subaru moved to throw himself backward but the girl's reflexes were just as fast and he instead found himself backed against the wall as the knife went up one more time, gleaming eerily in the fluorescent hospital lights.

He froze, staring at it like a frog entranced by a snake and then blinked and closed his eyes.

A sickening squelch met his ears and Subaru waited for the tide of adrenaline to withdraw long enough for him to feel the pain. He opened his eyes and was confused that he couldn't see the girl anymore. Something was in the way, something was blocking most of the light.

Then he recognized the curve of neck where it disappeared into the hospital coat and the length of shoulder at the perfect height where Subaru could rest his chin.

"Sei… shirou?"

"Stay put." He commanded, tilting his head slightly over his shoulder and Subaru caught sight of the blood on his cheek.

He knew Seishirou was talking to the girl. He could see staff members running in out of the corner of his eye and the hospital security hot on their heels but it wasn't real. None of it was. Everything was fuzzy and muted like being underwater and the colors somehow seemed all wrong. For one thing, he was wearing a t-shirt, he reasoned. This couldn't be real because he wasn't wearing a red jacket. So it was okay. Everything was fine. Because this wasn't actually happening.

A staff member was tugging at Seishirou's arm and he made a move to follow her and swayed slightly as he did. Reality slammed back into Subaru, leaving him breathless.

He didn't know what he was doing exactly, he merely numbly followed the group crowded around Seishirou, unseen it seemed, as though he were a ghost and none of them were aware of his presence.

_Seishirou used to be able to see ghosts. _He thought irrationally. _He would be able to see me now._ But a crueler voice in the back of his mind taunted him. _Well Seishirou probably can't see much of anything now can he?_

The doors to the operating room slammed shut in his face. The clang of the doorframe echoed through an empty, carefully blank hallway and with the sound of finality, he lost everything.

.

.

Kakyou was the one who took the call, as Hokuto was in the middle of a heated discussion with one of her lead designers about whether or not it was the right time to start a line of dresses for men. She knew something was wrong when he interrupted her without hesitation. Kakyou always hesitated and whispered when he tried to talk to her. Some people conveyed urgency by screaming or shaking or panicking. Kakyou strangely expressed it by simply speaking up and looking her in the eye.

Blowing off the baffled designer entirely, Hokuto snatched the phone out of Kakyou's hand. "Sumeragi speaking." She announced shortly then felt her heart skip a beat. "What? I'll be right there." Before she could even give the order, Kakyou was paging her driver.

The twenty minute drive seemed to take a million years. Why did people still insist upon stopping at red lights these days? Didn't they know that some things were more important than traffic laws? She let out a shriek of frustration as they hit yet another line of cars patiently waiting their turns and considered jumping out and running the rest of the way. At least she would be in motion then. She couldn't stand just sitting here waiting to arrive some place. Hokuto's innate impatience was taking over as it had done ever since she was born. Most people believed that she and Subaru had been born early because that was the norm for twins. Her grandmother had always joked that it was because Hokuto simply couldn't wait a whole nine months.

When they finally reached the hospital, she flew out of the car, not caring whether Kakyou kept up with her or not. A quick and forceful chat with a receptionist rewarded her with Seishirou's room number and she sprinted down the hallway, nearly bowling over several elderly patients on a daily walk on her way. When she arrived at his door though, a staff member called out to her, informing her that the patient was still out from the operation.

"I'm not here for him actually."

The staff member gave her a confused look.

"I'm here for the guy sitting by the bed in tears probably." Hokuto explained.

"What guy?"

Hokuto's hand froze as she was about to turn the doorknob.

"No one is allowed in there right now." The nurse informed her curtly. "And keep your voice down will you? The hospital is no place for yelling, especially not the ICU."

Hokuto waited for the nurse to continue on her way around the corner before opening the door anyway and peeking inside. Sure enough, she could see Seishirou, fast asleep in a cold white bed but there was no sign of Subaru.

She quietly pulled the door shut again and swallowed hard. Okay. He wasn't here. But she knew he was at the hospital somewhere.

She wandered the corridors for a while, feeling her nerve endings tingling, like she could sense Subaru somewhere nearby but couldn't quite place his presence. At last she came to a dark concrete stairwell that after a second's confusion, she realized led to the rooftop. She knew the instant she put her foot down on the first gray step that he would be there.

Sure enough, Subaru was leaning against the concrete wall with his arms propped up on his bent knees, his hands hanging limply and his head down so that his hair was hiding his face.

"Oh Subaru…" she sank to her knees in front of him.

He didn't say anything but as she reached a hand out toward his, he raised it enough to lightly touch her fingertips.

"Whatever happened Subaru, this isn't your fault. And Seishirou's going to be fine you know. I just saw him down there, he was just snoozing away, the big lazy lump."

Subaru didn't look up but she felt his fingers flex slightly and hesitantly entwine with hers as though he were afraid he had only imagined her hand pressed to his.

"You know him. He'll probably even just want donuts or something when he wakes up." Subaru's fingers twitched nervously. "Do you want to go down there and wait for him to wake up?"

Subaru shook his head morosely and Hokuto felt a strange sinking sensation. Something wasn't right. Obviously her brother was in distress, but why was he up here on the roof? She remembered once, a couple of years ago, when Seishirou caught the flu after an outbreak at work. Seishirou seemed just fine. Well not fine per se, but he wasn't terribly concerned, mostly just unusually tired but Subaru fretted the entire time and wouldn't leave his side except when he was making soup or getting juice. In fact, the only reason Hokuto knew about it was that Seishirou had called her up to come drag Subaru away for a bit so that he could sleep.

She nearly laughed actually as she recalled that they both ended up with the flu themselves afterward then remembered the situation.

"Okay, you wanna stay up here, I get it. Maybe you need the sunlight, you're looking a little pale anyway. How about if I go get us some coffee while we wait?" Hokuto turned around and froze when she felt a tug at the bottom of her shirt. Surprised, she glanced over her shoulder to see Subaru's hand clinging desperately to the material.

"Subaru?"

"Don't go…" He whispered hoarsely in a voice she almost didn't recognize.

"I'm not _leaving_ silly. It's not like I would just abandon you, right?" she teased and revved up to remind him of the time he thought she had left him alone at summer camp, when he raised his head to look at her.

Hokuto was not easily spooked, she never had been. Ghost stories had never frightened her, in fact they fascinated her. Roller coasters were a thrill, not a terror. Spiders, she thought were kind of gross, but kind of interesting too. She had duly earned her reputation as being the most fearless person that most people knew.

The look in Subaru's eyes scared her.


	22. Beach Part I

_Author's Note: Okay so here's the thing. I originally wanted to make the whole all of the characters at the beach thing all one chapter but I've been working on it for a while and well… it's getting rather long. So instead of making you guys wait forever and ever and then posting something ridiculously long, I thought I should break it up. So here is the first part. :P (Which note, is still longer than the average chapter here. XD) _

_Also! I'm at 18,710 words toward NaNoWriMo! :D _

_._

"Oneeeeeeeeeeeeee-saaaaaaan!"

Arashi flipped over and pulled the pillow over her head until Sorata gave up and left the room. Why had she agreed to this?

.

.

Kusanagi stirred at the sound of Sorata's voice down the hallway and he smirked to himself, realizing that he must have been trying to rouse the young lady he had begged to invite along with them. He breathed in deeply, letting the salty air fill his lungs and wondered when the last time he had felt so good was.

He had not been to the ocean since he was a teenager and somehow he had forgotten in all the years he had been in the big city just what he had lost. It was so easy to forget how to breathe this deeply in the middle of a polluted smog-filled city. It was like he had been living half-alive, half- breathing all this time. The mountains would always feel more like home to him, with their dark, earthy smells, but the tangy scent of the ocean held a special place in his heart as well.

He had always felt a special connection to the very earth itself. Like people had forgotten the land and all that it stood for, trampling it down without a second thought. Sometimes when he stood under a tree and the wind blew through its leaves just right he could almost swear he could hear someone whispering to him just softly enough to hear, but not loudly enough to make out the words. He had forgotten how similarly he felt listening to soft whoosh of the ocean tide sweeping across the sand like a gentle caress, reminding the land that it was not alone; it would always have the sea. It had always made him feel a little bit like he was eavesdropping on an intimate moment, hearing the sweet nothings that lovers whispered into one another's ears when they were alone in each other's embrace.

He rolled over, taking another deep, enthralled breath and stopped dead when he felt something stir beside him. He jerked his head up in alarm but laughed at himself when he realized it was just Inuki. The puppy awoke at the sound of his voice and gave a cheerful yip, giving him slobbery good morning kisses.

.

.

"Onee-san!"

Arashi pulled the blankets over her head to block out the sunlight as Sorata jerked open the shutters, letting sunlight stream invasively into the room. She waited until she heard him sigh and shuffle out before reaching up to slam the shutters closed again and roll back over.

.

.

Yuzuriha was confused when she woke up and Inuki wasn't asleep at her feet. Ever since the first day that she had brought him home, he had stayed faithfully by her side and slept in her bed. What could have changed that now she wondered? Maybe he had found some sort of interesting creature on the beach? She hoped it wasn't a washed up jellyfish; she could easily imagine the puppy getting unpleasantly stung.

She stretched like a cat as she sat up, arching her back happily as she reached for her toes. Then she tossed the covers aside and hopped out of bed, tossing clothes out of her suitcase left and right until she located her swimsuit. She had every intention of hitting the water ASAP, or at least as soon as she was finished with breakfast.

"Inuki?" She called out the bedroom door. She heard a small yip down the hallway and skipped along the creaky floorboards, expecting to turn the corner and see the puppy sitting by his food bowl in the kitchen, tail wagging a hundred miles a minute. As it turned out she was only partially right. He was in fact in the kitchen with his tail going so fast it could have propelled a small boat but not waiting patiently for food. Instead he was bouncing around Kusanagi's feet and between his ankles as bacon sizzled enticingly in a pan on the stove.

She giggled as Inuki noticed the bacon as well and yipped hopefully. Kusanagi looked down but shook his head. "This isn't for you, pup."

Inuki whined and Kusanagi refused again, getting down a platter to put the strips on. Inuki gave him a carefully considering look and sat down with his paw out as Kusanagi had trained him to do upon command.

Yuzuriha waited for another refusal but was surprised when Kusanagi laughed. "Alright, alright, but just one, okay?"

The puppy's tongue lolled happily as Kusanagi broke off a piece of bacon and knelt to hand it to him. As soon as he had his prize, Inuki's attention turned to the doorway where Yuzuriha still stood and he gave her a triumphant "look what I got!" look. Kusanagi glanced over his shoulder to see what the puppy was looking at and gave Yuzuriha a big grin.

She loved his smile. It was so open, like he didn't know how to fake a smile to save his soul. You could just tell that when he smiled at you, he really meant it.

Yuzuriha had spent most of her life with Sorata's smile. She knew that probably 99% of the time, it was genuine and that he really was a generally happy person but she also knew that there were darker days when the pressure of their own pasts got to him, when things reminded him of his parents and the way things used to be. She also knew that he would smile even on those days and while she admired his perseverance, his determination to keep moving forward with his life, sometimes the dishonesty dug at her a little bit. She had always wanted to tell him that he didn't have to smile for her sake, but had never really known how to broach the topic. It was really the only thing she and Sorata had never ever talked about.

So when she realized that Kusanagi's smile was real, she found a relief she had not known she had been craving all these years.

.

.

"Onee-san!"

Arashi shrieked as ice cold water suddenly doused her and her bed. She jackknifed into a sitting position and jerked her soaked bangs out of her eyes, looking up to see Sorata standing over her with a grin and an upturned bucket.

"You bastard!" She screamed and threw the covers aside.

.

.

"Did you sleep well?" Kusanagi asked as he sank into the seat across from her.

Yuzuriha nodded vigorously over the stack of pancakes between them. "Oh yes! It was great waking up to the smell of the ocean wasn't it?"

Kusanagi chuckled and agreed.

Yuzuriha studied the breakfast laid out between them, wondering. "Um…" she began slowly. "About what you said at the arts festival…"

But before she could get another word out, a blur of color rushed past them both, nearly knocking over a pitcher of syrup.

"I was just trying to wake you up!" Part of the blur insisted.

"By dumping water on me?" The tail end of it demanded hotly.

"Well how else was I supposed to?"

"You weren't! That's the point! I was sleeping!"

"But the ocean is right out there Onee-san! Don't you want to go play in it?"

"More like drown you in it!"

The banter died away as the two disappeared from view and Kusanagi gave Yuzuriha a puzzled look.

"I thought you said that they were dating."

"They are."

He gestured down the hallway. "Then what was that?"

"THAT", Yuzuriha declared loudly, "was true love."

Kusanagi shook his head. "Kids these days."

.

.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Kakyou's brow furrowed as he poured another mug of tea.

Seishirou waved his hand dismissively. "Of course! I couldn't let you guys go to the beach without me now could I?" He gave a hearty smile as Kakyou slid into the seat across from him.

It was strange to be sitting here like this actually, Kakyou realized. His only contact with Seishirou up until now had always been via Hokuto and Subaru, an indirect link that meant they had never actually been alone together before.

_I just made a cup of tea for the man who murdered the love of my life._ He thought, staring at the man across the table_._ It was absurd. And yet…

The thing was, Kakyou had always thought of Hokuto's killer as being something of a vague and simply evil monster, not unlike how children imagined creatures that lived under their beds. Even when they had briefly met in the previous world at the gathering of all of the Angels, they had not in fact interacted and so the image had remained. It had never really sunk in before that Seishirou was a human being. The only reason it had now was because of his injury.

Kakyou furtively eyed Seishirou's bandages from beneath his bangs, glad that Seishirou was too preoccupied with his tea to notice. It seemed strange to realize that he could get hurt, wasn't he supposed to be the one who hurt others?

He could have hated Seishirou, he supposed. Certainly, it would have made sense, given that he had been the one to kill Hokuto previously. He could harbor a deep grudge, despise the man with all he had.

And yet… he found he couldn't really muster that kind of resentment. It was partially because Kakyou was just not very good at holding on to emotions like anger for long, but partially because in a twisted way, he was grateful to Seishirou. He had only been able to meet people nearing the end of their lives in the previous world and it was because Seishirou had killed Hokuto that Kakyou himself had been able to meet her. It wasn't exactly that he was happy that she had died, but he was happy that he had met her.

And fate had a funny sense of humor if this life was anything to go by, as Seishirou was indirectly the reason they had met this time around too…

He was so caught up in his reminiscence that he didn't notice Kamui come down the stairs until he slid into the seat next to him. Kakyou smiled into his tea as he noticed that Kamui still watched Seishirou warily every time that they were in the same room. He supposed some people were better at holding grudges than others, although the boy seemed to have become a little more uncertain ever since the incident at the hospital and Kakyou that despite his suspicions, he was at least glad that Seishirou had protected Subaru.

Still, there was something strange about the way that Seishirou had taken it all in stride. In fact, he seemed to almost find the whole situation with his eye amusing. Kakyou had not exactly expected him to drop into a deep depression or go on a killing spree or anything, but he would have thought there would be more of a reaction than _this._ He had not even decided to press charges despite having had his eye gouged out for crying out loud.

Then again, considering Kakyou's own unwillingness to hold what could have been a well-deserved grudge against the man, he supposed he couldn't judge. Perhaps he and Seishirou were just more alike than he had originally realized. That was a terrifying thought all its own.

He shook his head, leaving those thoughts behind. More importantly, he had to focus on this weekend. It was the first time he had been around Hokuto for an extended period of time without it being all about work and he just had to make it special and memorable. He desperately wanted to make things more official between them or at least to make it clear that he loved her, had loved her, since the moment they had met.

The problem was, he had no idea what would be a unique enough way to confess. He knew she got love confessions on a regular basis, she was a vivacious, beautiful, and successful young woman and Kakyou was far from the first person to notice.

He had debated something big and flashy like a blimp but immediately wrote the thought off for two main reasons: one being that that was more Nokoru's style and on top of that just not being Kakyou's personality, he knew from experience that Nokoru's flirtatious advances had never once gotten him into Hokuto's multi-colored pants. The other reason was that Kakyou was fairly certain that he would die of embarrassment.

So he considered the simple route of finding a pretty seashell and telling her that he considered her the most beautiful thing by far, but that was just too corny and would probably bore Hokuto to death. Either way this seemed to end in one of them dying, which admittedly, would make an impression, but not the one he was trying to make.

Then she bounded down the stairs and all his careful planning was thrown out the window as his attention was directed at the real Hokuto and not the one in his fantasies.

.

.

Something was up and Hokuto knew it. She just didn't know what it was and that bugged her even more than misogynistic pricks hitting on defenseless teenage girls bugged her. Which was a lot.

She had known that something was wrong for the past several weeks but coming downstairs and discovering that Subaru was still in bed was a wake-up call for her, if one could forgive the double entendre. The only non-mysterious thing about the scene at the breakfast table was that all of the men were dead silent as if they were observing a funeral rite for their scrambled eggs. Seriously, did _nobody_ know how to make conversation here? This was what happened when one stayed with a group of guys.

"Who's ready to hit the waves?" She cried enthusiastically, making a mental note to go attack her brother in a few minutes.

"I am!" Seishirou ignored the incredulous stares of the other two as he cheerfully raised his hand.

"Not you, you aren't allowed in the water right now, remember?"

"That doesn't mean I'm not ready for some fun in the sun!" He promptly replied with a grin.

"That's what I like to hear." She clapped his shoulder as she skipped by on her way to pour a cup of coffee. "What about you two?" She gestured broadly at the others, nearly splashing the scalding contents on them all.

Kamui and Kakyou looked to one another with matching "help me" expressions. Neither of them said a word.

Hokuto rolled her eyes and slammed down the mug, making both the coffee and the two of them jump. This was a vacation and they were all going to have _fun_ dammit. They were going to get into the spirit of summer or else, and she informed them thusly before making her way back to the staircase to take care of the biggest party pooper of all this morning.

.

.

When Subaru woke up he could hear the seagulls just outside his window and understood for the first time in his life why they called it crying.

The sunshine that filtered in through the curtains seemed strangely morose for such a pleasant day but he realized it was probably just him and not actually the light itself.

Seishirou had already gotten up and the emptiness of both the bed and the room pressed down on him until he felt as though he were choking. Half-panicked, he threw back the covers and began to dress. Sitting still and being patient was normally Subaru's strong suit yet lately he realized he could no longer stomach such idleness, he needed to move.

He wondered briefly where the sudden nervous energy was coming from but the answer was pretty obvious. Ever since that day at the hospital, Subaru had been jumpy as hell, as Hokuto had pleasantly noted just yesterday in the car. Her theory had been that Subaru was afraid that someone was going to attack him or Seishirou again. Kamui knew better however. He had watched both Subaru and Seishirou intently and silently the entire time, as though waiting for some invisible chord to snap at last after fraying dangerously for the past several months. Subaru had never told him the full story behind what had happened before, but Kamui knew enough to know that Seishirou had been missing an eye in their previous lives as well and that it had something to do with the same period of time that he had killed Hokuto.

The result of Kamui's connecting the dots might have been amusing if Subaru had not been so wracked with fear and once buried guilt. At first, he hadn't known why the boy had started to hang close to Hokuto so much whenever they were all together but after a few gatherings he had realized that Kamui was wary and trying to protect her from an assault that might never come. Subaru wanted to laugh and cry when understanding struck him at last as he realized that the teenager was making an effort to protect a woman he barely knew so much more than Subaru had made for the sister he adored.

More than Kamui, he wondered about Kakyou's reaction to the entire situation. The blond-haired former dreamseer had not shown so much concern as Subaru had initially expected and he at last realized that Kakyou probably did not even know that Seishirou had lost an eye once, much less that it had indirectly been the precursor to the murder of his beloved.

He stared out the window, wondering if it was the slight tint of the window pane making the world looking washed out and faded, or his own inability to relax enough to appreciate the beauty of the world outside. The answer seemed obvious though, even to himself.

Before he could close his eyes and roll back over however, the door slammed open.

"Subaru Sumeragi! What do you think you're doing?"

He blinked, caught completely off-guard. "Um?"

The next thing he knew, a sequin-covered body had leapt into the empty spot in the bed next to him.

"Hokuto! What the hell?"

"Yo."

He instinctively drew the covers up around him, even though he was actually still dressed in an undershirt and boxers. "What are you doing?"

"Getting your lazy butt up obviously. Come on, there's breakfast downstairs!"

He shook his head. "I'm not hungry." He protested.

"Nonsense!" She cried, jerking at the covers insistently. "You'll need fuel for all the fun we are going to have today!"

"Stop it."

Hokuto froze and tilted her head slightly, giving him an odd look and Subaru stared blankly back until the realization hit him that he had never once ordered her to do something.

"Subaru, what's wrong?" She asked softly, letting go of the blankets and letting them drop between them.

He struggled to find the words, knowing full well that there was no way he could tell the truth. He hated having secrets to keep from her.

She crawled up to the head of the bed and settled down, Indian style on top of Seishirou's pillow, tugging the edge of the comforter just enough to cover her legs as well, effectively tucking herself in.

"We aren't kids anymore." Subaru remarked, watching her.

"What does that have to do with why you're so out of it lately?"

"Nothing, I meant that we're too old to be sharing a bed now; it's weird."

She waved her hand dismissively. "Who cares about that. Besides we're twins, we're allowed a little lee-way."

"I don't think that's how it works."

"Well I do, so there."

He shook his head, recognizing a losing argument when he heard it.

"He seems okay." Hokuto sobered slightly, staring at the painting across the room of a ship lost in a stormy sea.

"He is, I think." Subaru acknowledged.

"Why aren't you?" The question was blunt, as so much of his sister's questions were.

Subaru sighed. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Depends." She replied warily.

"Don't be alone with Seishirou."

She gave him a baffled look. "Why, are you afraid we're going to fall madly in love with one another now?" She attempted a joke, but her smile lacked the light that it usually held.

He shook his head. "Just… don't okay? Please?"

She frowned.

"Hokuto." He implored.

"Fine." She replied at long last and he breathed a sigh of relief. "But you owe me an explanation."

"Can I have a little time to figure out how to explain?" He answered, hoping he could, for once in his life, come up with a good enough lie.

She studied him carefully with an uncharacteristically somber expression and he was certain that she reading him like an open book, knowing exactly what he planned to do.

"Fine." She answered again then abruptly shifted moods once more. "But in the meantime, come on! Let's make some pancakes!"

Before he could react, she leapt off the bed, jerking the blankets with her.

He sighed again and at last got up. "I'll be down in a moment then."

"You better be! Or I'll come barging right back in here, you know that. I don't care if you're stark naked." Hokuto announced loudly as she disappeared out the door.

He snorted then stared after her at the empty doorway.

_I won't let you get hurt again._ He thought with determination.

.

.

It was far from unusual for Seiichiro to be awoken by his children bouncing on the bed, especially on a day they knew they were going to get to go out somewhere fun like the zoo. As such, when he had lain his head down Friday night in their hotel room, he had fully expected to wake up that way the next morning and find Nataku and Kazuki, swimsuits put on backward and bits of sunscreen haphazardly smeared on their cheeks and in their hair.

Instead however, he found himself jolting awake with the edges of a nightmare burning away like the night before the summer sun slowly creeping over the horizon. He could not seem to capture the last tendrils of the dream before they dissolved into his memories but something about them left him jittery and uneasy. He looked over to Karen and found her fast asleep, one arm around Nataku, who had evidently crawled into bed with them too at some point in the night.

Upon reflection, Seiichiro realized that Nataku had become more and more attached lately. When he had been younger, he would cry even at the thought of leaving his mother's side, but as he had gotten older, the boy had fostered a certain defiant independence as most young boys seemed to do. He had insisted upon doing everything himself and had been prone lately to wandering away from them even sometimes when they were out and about, pulled away by curiosity and a certain adventuresome spirit.

Then suddenly, in the past couple of weeks he had become more withdrawn and clingy. Seiichiro had noticed it the day they were at the supermarket and Karen had turned a corner while Nataku was looking the other way. The second he realized she was out of sight, Seiichiro had seen the panic light up in his eyes as his breathing quickened. When Karen had reappeared, Nataku had grabbed the edge of her coat and clung to it like a life vest.

He had already asked Nataku if everything was okay at school and the boy seemed to genuinely light up when he talked about their latest science projects and the book his teacher had read to the class. The boy wasn't ill or injured; he didn't show any signs of any physical ailments at all. Still, something was wrong and Seiichiro knew it, but if he was honest with himself, he was somewhat afraid of what it might be. He shook his head. Then again, maybe this was just a phase. Maybe he was just getting worked up for no reason. He sighed and slipped out of the bed and out onto the patio as silently as possible.

A saline-infused breeze whispered by, ruffling his hair and brushing against his cheeks, warm reassurance. He loved days like this. He did not think he felt particularly claustrophobic while he was inside but as soon as he was outside it was like releasing a long-held breath. Surely there was no greater joy than that of dancing fresh air.

_It was just a bad dream_. He thought serenely. _And Nataku's going to be just fine; it's just another childish phase._ But a strangely cool blast of wind rattled the window panes all of a sudden and Seiichiro felt the vague tendrils of memory stir at the back of his mind and fear crept back in. He had the unnerving sense of having forgotten something very important, like the time he had forgotten to slow down in time for that one curvy road on the way home and spun out. He and Karen had been lucky enough to walk away unscathed that time but he had the urgent nagging sense that unless he did something soon they might not be so lucky again.

.


	23. Beach Part II

_She belongs to the ocean._ Tooru thought fondly, watching the swell of waves reaching up to embrace Saya's legs, her peals of laughter ringing clearly across the water.

"Tooru!" The girl cried out, holding out her arms. A gust of wind caught her hair, blowing it toward the shore as if every part of Saya's body were reaching for her.

Yet with that sight, a sudden panic hit her. _I can't join her._ Tooru felt her heart begin to race. _If the ocean takes her, I can never join her; we'll never be together again._ The finality of the word "never" struck her with a cold, empty feeling and before she could think clearly again, she found herself in the water, holding Saya tightly, fighting the urge to sob.

"Tooru?"

The uncertainty in her voice was enough to snap her back to reality.

"Are you okay?" A pair of amber eyes regarded her with deep concern.

"I'm fine." Tooru tried her best to keep her voice light-hearted and even. "Hey, let's… let's do something else? Like go shopping or just lie out on the beach."

Saya's eyes lit up. "Oh there was a beautiful hat shop in town that we passed on the way here!"

"Let's go check it out then." Tooru agreed readily.

"Sure! It's not like the ocean is going anywhere." The girl replied with a giggle, and Tooru felt her heart sink at the thought.

.

.

"Mommy, look!" Kazuki held up a seashell to her mother's face. A hermit crab stuck one jointed leg out desperately as if reaching for help and upon the sight of it, the little girl shrieked and dropped it, jumping back as the crab scuttled away.

Nataku laughed and ran after it as Karen tried to explain that it was just a crab and nothing to be afraid of, but Kazuki shied away from the water's edge after that, suddenly distracted by a girl nearby, whose long locks she had braided back.

"How did you do that?" She asked in amazement.

Kotori giggled. "Want me to show you how?"

"Can you do my hair like that?" Kazuki asked, open-mouthed.

"Hmm, it's too short to do all of it like mine, but we can do a little braid right here." Kotori pulled a lock of hair away near her face.

"Okay!"

"I'm sorry hon, is she bothering you?" Karen ran up beside the two of them. "I turned around for just a second…"

"She's fine!" Kotori answered brightly. "I was just going to braid her hair if that's alright?"

"Oh sure!" Karen watched Kotori patiently play with Kazuki's hair and listen with rapt attention as Kazuki rambled on about the beach and the hermit crabs and the way the water tasted funny, nothing like the water in the bath or the pool.

Kotori chuckled. "You've been drinking bath and pool water?"

"Yeah, it gets in my mouth."

Karen shook her head. "You're good with kids." She addressed Kotori. "And she seems to have taken a liking to you. Would you be interested in baby-sitting from time to time? I mean, we already have a baby-sitter but sometimes he's busy…"

Kotori nodded vigorously. "I love children!" She replied enthusiastically. "I would love to watch Kazuki sometime!"

Karen studied the girl carefully, wondering at the nagging voice at the back of her mind, trying to get her attention and remind her of something.

"Oh, you know there is a bonfire going on tonight over by the western lodges." Karen announced, pushing aside her worries for the time being. "You're more than welcome to join us if you want. We'll have food and fireworks and games if you and your family want to come."

"Oh that sounds lovely!" Kotori agreed.

Karen chuckled "And of course it would be nice to have an extra pair of eyes on the little ones." She nodded at Kazuki and Nataku who was jumping over waves as they swept up the sand toward him, giggling with glee.

Kotori laughed and rose to join them, lifting Kazuki's out of the water just enough that her toes could skim the waves as they rolled in.

.

.

The day was beginning to draw to a close, as sunset bathed the beach in warmer tones by the time Yuuto was able to drag Satsuki away from her laptop once more and even she seemed just the tiniest bit impressed. She even leaned in a little closer to him, a surprisingly public show of affection for her as she admired the roll of the tide upon the shore. Everything was going just swimmingly until a woman's voice called a few feet away.

"Yuuto Kigai? Is that you?"

_Oh shit._ He thought frantically and tried to remember whose voice it was before he caught sight of its owner. Worse, Satsuki spotted her first.

"Who is that?" She demanded, taking in the woman's bouncing curls and equally as bouncy bosom as she approached.

Damn, Yuuto had forgotten how dusk accentuated those red lips.

He coughed in a mockery of discretion. "Karen!" he called back cheerfully then quickly turned to Satsuki. "This is an old friend of mine from school, Ms. Kasumi- ah- no." He paused and glanced at her. "Not Kasumi anymore is it?"

"Karen Aoki now." She grinned, taking in Satsuki's furious glaring. "With two kids." She added loudly for the younger woman's benefit.

Satsuki did not reply, busy sizing Karen up.

"Wow, I haven't seen you in years, imagine meeting you out here." The redhead laughed. "On a romantic weekend getaway?"

"You bet." Yuuto winked gratefully.

"Have you two eaten?" Karen continued. "We've been working on making dinner in Sakurazuka's beach house if you want to join us tonight."

"We don't want to be a bother." Satsuki replied coolly.

"It's no trouble! We're just sort of throwing everything we've all got together." She laughed musically.

"Sounds great."

Satsuki glared daggers at Yuuto before facing Karen again. "Then please, allow us to help." She added through gritted teeth. "We should do our part as well, shouldn't we?"

Yuuto sighed. He hated cooking, and she knew it, but if that was the price he had to pay to get a chance to talk to Karen once again without having his testicles removed by a robot, then so be it. So in resignation, he and Satsuki followed the ever cheerful Karen back across the sand toward a building that was more manor than house.

.

.

There was something comfortingly distracting, Subaru found, about having everyone gathered in the kitchen at once, working on their own tasks. Kamui and Kakyou were at the table, cutting up cucumbers, Hokuto was mixing the batter for cookies while Seishirou was at the stove, preparing some mysterious meat that he refused to name. It was nice, Subaru thought, to have everyone within sight perhaps. He knew that everyone he cared about was here, and they were safe, with Hokuto and Seishirou arguing over which power ranger was the best and Kakyou and Kamui were talking about school and how nice vacations like this were.

His thoughts were interrupted suddenly by Hokuto turning to him and abruptly asking a question. "Hey, so does Mitsuki still work with you?"

Subaru started, hoping she had not noticed that he had not been preparing the rest of the salad for several minutes now. "Yeah. Oh, I guess I didn't tell you- she got married recently."

"Really? That's great! To the guy she was dating in college?"

"Yep. The same one."

"Well good for Mitsuki!"

Seishirou noticed Kamui's confused look and explained, "Mitsuki was Subaru's first love."

Subaru blushed the same color as the tomato he was cutting up. "She was a crush!"

"But you liked her for _years_." Hokuto dismissed his argument with a wave of her hand, nearly cutting Kamui's cheek with her knife in the meantime. "I don't think you really ever got over her until you met Seishirou."

Subaru smiled down at the cutting board, lost in fond memories.

"Hey can some of you give us a hand here?" Sorata poked his head in the door.

Kamui brushed aside the onion he had been chopping. "Yeah, I'm finished."

"Me too." Hokuto quickly wiped her hands on a towel and joined him, hopping down the back doorsteps.

Seishirou watched them leave then turned back to the stove. Subaru pushed away from the cutting board to wrap his arms around him from behind. Seishirou glanced over his shoulder in surprise at the top of Subaru's head as the younger man pressed his cheek to his back.

"I'm yours." Subaru whispered.

Seishirou twisted slightly so that he could wrap his arm around Subaru's shoulders and kiss the top of his head. "I know."

Subaru looked up at him and shadows filled a pair of nostalgic green eyes. "Sometimes I'm not sure you really do."

Seishirou narrowed his eyes and smiled, taking Subaru's hand in his own and pressing a firm kiss to the back of it. "Oh I think I do."

Subaru's eyes widened in a most satisfactory way but before he could say anything, Arashi walked in.

"I have had it up to _here_ with you!" She screeched out the door at what everyone could assume was an overbearingly affectionate Sorata.

"Up to where exactly?" Seishirou inquired with joking curiosity.

Arashi turned the approximate color of the strawberries she was carrying.

"That's none of your business." She snapped and proceeded to nearly drop the bowl as she stumbled to the sink to wash them off.

Subaru rolled his eyes and walked outside. He was overwhelmed by the nostalgia that struck him as he caught sight of the crowd gathering around the picnic table, playing Frisbee, and generally laughing and joking with one another.

Aoki, Karen, Yuzuriha, Kakyou, Sorata, Kamui… they were all there… All just living their happy lives…

Dizziness swept over him as he remembered the events of a couple of weeks ago.

But could it last?

He had the overwhelming sensation of having been underwater for some time. He had been holding his breath effortlessly at first and was just now beginning to feel the pressure, the desperate need to surface and escape this lovely atmosphere. If he didn't he would drown in it.

_You're wanting to run away again._ A voice at the back of his mind whispered. _Remember what happened the last time you ran away?_

He clenched his jaw and stepped down from the porch.

.

.

"Hey Mister Kigai, could you come help me set up the picnic table?" Sorata laughed awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. "It's brand new and actually came in several pieces and well… the directions don't really make sense so I thought maybe you- "

"Sure thing." Yuuto answered quickly, grateful for an excuse to escape, and left the room, leaving Karen and Satsuki sitting at the table in awkward silence.

"So you knew Yuuto-san?" Satsuki broke the silence first before the crickets could kick in.

"Yeah we met at boarding school."

"Oh. What's he like?"

"He's selfish, lazy, hedonistic, unfaithful, irresponsible, unreliable and a total player."

Satsuki tilted her head. "So you don't like him much?"

"Oh no, I love the bastard."

Satsuki glanced at her curiously.

"How to explain it… He's really not a horrible guy you know? Like I said, he's selfish, but he's not unkind to others. He was the first friend I ever really had."

She laughed as Satsuki's incredulous look. "I'm serious. I was teased a lot in school. Yuuto was the first person there to show me kindness." She laughed again. "Mind you, he might have just been trying to get into my pants so take it how you will. Either way, I was a lot happier after I met him."

She smiled fondly, lost in memory for a moment then gave Satsuki an appraising look. "You don't strike me as the type to be looking for a husband…"

Satsuki shook her head vehemently.

"That's good then." Karen chuckled. "I can't see him ever popping the question in the first place but even if he did somehow get dragged into a wedding, there's no way in hell he would remain faithful to his wife, much less play the role of provider/father."

Satsuki snorted as she tried to imagine this unlikely scenario herself.

"Well well, what an unlikely yet not unpleasant surprise!" Yuuto chuckled as he entered the kitchen. "My ex-girlfriend and current girlfriend getting along?" He suggestively snaked an arm around each woman's waist. "Just think of the fun we could have if it were the three of us, ladies."

"I'm afraid it would not be so much fun for me." Aoki replied, coming up behind them with a forced smile.

"Did you get the table set up?"

Yuuto laughed. "It's all ready to go. Shall we?" He offered an arm to Satsuki most gallantly and led her out the door.

Karen turned to her husband. "Did he set it up?"

"No, I did."

"That's what I thought." She kissed his cheek, bringing a faint smile to his lips. "Are you alright? You seemed a little out of it earlier."

His brow furrowed momentarily but he quickly smoothed his features. "I'm fine." He replied too quickly.

Karen usually let him play the strong provider, let him be the pillar upholding their family, but something in his voice sounded off, like just the tiniest crack in the foundation. She knew he could tell by the look on her face that she had heard it and he turned to gather bowls and plates to take outside.

"Did you wake up when Nataku came in our room last night?"

He paused. "Why?"

"I thought I heard you say his name."

She saw his fingers curl around the paper plates protectively as though they were porcelain. "Maybe I realized it was him when I was half-asleep." With that, he swept out of the kitchen, avoiding her gaze, leaving Karen dismayed. Her husband had never been one to share his every thought but he never kept serious secrets from her either; it simply was not in his nature to be enigmatic, but rather an open book. What could have possibly gotten into him?

She frowned and gathered up a stack of cups and cutlery to take out herself and upon stepping out onto the porch was amused at the sight of Yuuto trying to convince his latest girlfriend to try a bit of dragon fruit despite her highly suspicious glare at it. She leaned against the doorframe with a fond smile, letting the scene wash over her.

Yuuto was not a warm and caring person, never had been and never would be. Never would he wish for another person's happiness from the bottom of his heart or devote himself to fulfilling their deepest desires. Nor did she think he would ever really love someone enough to make any true sacrifices for their sake. On the other hand, he would never hold a grudge, never wish with all his being for another person to suffer. He didn't love, but he also didn't hate.

The crash of a wave upon the shore caught her attention and Karen reflected that Yuuto was rather like the ocean's waters, always being carried along by whatever current came his way without resistance. Although the ocean was deep; she chuckled to herself, thinking that he was in truth far too shallow, and thus perhaps more like a puddle.

A tiny smile tugged at the corner of Satsuki's lips as she finally tasted the fruit. Evidently it was more to her liking than she had originally anticipated and Karen found a gentle smile of her own in response. Inadvertent kindness, she thought. Yuuto may not try to help others, but sometimes he does so in his own way without intending to. He may not have wished to bring the girl joy, but something in Karen sensed that he was going to do so anyway. It might even be better that way, that he did not enter the relationship with romantic notions, as Karen suspected that Satsuki was the type would have rejected him outright if he had indeed gone in with noble intentions.

She stepped off the porch and out into the fray.

.

.

It had been a warm and wonderful day and Kotori felt that few things could make the day better than ending it with a feast fit for kings and watching a bonfire with the little girl she had met earlier.

She had even seen Kamui earlier, although there had been too many people between them, not to mention two small children demanding her attention, for her to approach him or get his attention. Still, it was nice to see that he was out at the beach on vacation with his family as well, even if she couldn't quite figure out which of the people around him were in fact his family. She had, luckily, gotten the chance to talk to Yuzuriha, Sorata and Arashi at least, pleased to find that they too had all come together with an older friend of theirs. Kotori could have sworn she had even seen Hinoto at one point, although she had been quickly lost in the crowd and after just a flash, she was left wondering if it had merely been her imagination.

"Hey, Kotori-chan, how old are you?" Nataku suddenly demanded, pulling her away from her thoughts.

"I'm almost sixteen." She replied perkily and giggled at the wide-eyed expression Kazuki leaned back to look up and give her.

"Wow, that's old." Nataku replied with wonder.

"I hope I get to be sixteen someday!" Kazuki chirped.

Kotori laughed. "You will be someday!"

"Not necessarily." Nataku added gravely.

Kotori didn't know what to say to this troubling remark, but before she had to respond, someone above them called her name.

"Ah, Kamui-kun, you know Kotori-chan?" Karen approached them both as well.

"We… go to school together." Kamui answered cautiously.

Kotori beamed. "We're in the same class!"

Karen glanced at her then at Kamui, and back at her again then gave a mischievous grin. "Well, Kamui-kun, I was just asking Kotori-chan earlier if she would babysit Nataku and Kazuki sometimes when you were busy but on second thought, how would you feel about babysitting them together? They can be just such a handful, you know."

Kamui's cheeks flushed, and Kotori wondered if perhaps he was standing too close to the bonfire. "That would be fun!" she declared.

He nodded and Karen leaned down to collect Kazuki. "come on kids, let's go bother Aunt Hokuto for a while before she drives her poor brother up the wall."

The children protested mildly but allowed themselves to be led away, leaving Kotori and Kamui alone suddenly and an awkward silence fell between them.

"It's so funny, seeing you outside of school like this." Kotori was the first to speak.

Kamui nodded again, flushing even brighter.

"Want to join me?" She patted the bit of driftwood she had been sitting on.

"Sure." He mumbled and sank down beside her.

"They're such funny children, aren't they?" she giggled as she watched Kazuki and Nataku immediately take to a pair of matching sparklers handed to them by a boisterous woman in a strange summer dress that appeared to have been made of fake seaweed. "And so similar. It's odd, but even though they're different ages and genders, you could sometimes swear that they're like twins. I guess that's family resemblance right?"

"You and your sister a lot alike." Kamui answered thoughtfully.

"Saya? Yes, people have no trouble telling that we're related when we go out. And you?" She turned to face him. "Do you have any siblings?"

Kamui shook his head.

"Really? I guess I thought the guy you were talking to earlier was your older brother."

"Subaru?" Kamui indicated the man in question. "No, he's… my cousin."

"Oh I see! I thought he seemed too young to be your father!"

Kamui snorted. "Way too young."

"So how do you know Aoki-san? Are you related to her too?"

"No, she works with Subaru's sister." He nodded toward the woman in the seaweed dress.

"Oh I see." Kotori hummed. "So who is he?" She pointed at the friendly-looking man now chatting with Karen.

Kamui started when he saw Yuuto.

"Is something wrong?"

"No!" He answered a little too quickly. "He… I don't know who he is."

Even Kotori could see that it was an obvious lie, and she turned to further question Kamui, but before she could say a word, a flash of movement caught the corner of her eye and she heard someone cry out. Both of them turned around just in time to see Karen and the man she had been speaking with falling and that split second of lost balance seemed to last an eternity, as if everyone could see what was about to happen, and everyone was powerless to stop it.

They disappeared among the flames of the bonfire.

.

.

_Author's Note: I meant to mention by the way that when Karen says she's known Yuuto since boarding school, it's a reference to another story I have in the works called "Little Red Corvette" about the two of them as teenagers. Hopefully that one will also be posted soon. ^_^_


	24. Memories

"My, my, this hospital is getting far too familiar for you, isn't it, Kakyou-san?" Karen asked brightly.

Kakyou stared at the windowsill and the floor beneath it. "Here I thought flowers were appropriate but it seems like you've already got your own little forest taking root over there, don't you?"

Karen chuckled. "I enjoy it though you know. I've always wanted a little garden for myself."

"Happy to oblige." Kakyou nestled the orchid in his arms between an enormous sunflower and a small pot of more demure tulips. "I know you're probably tired of hearing this, but how are you doing?"

Karen gave a dazzling smile. "Oh I'm fine so far."

Kakyou settled into a chair nearby, making no secret his examination of the bandages down the side of her face and winding out from beneath the shoulder and arm of her hospital gown. Karen returned his gaze, but with so settled an expression as to be a blatant mask even beneath the gauze. He wondered if it was merely lingering trauma from the accident itself or resurfacing memories turning her emotions inward behind a wall of serenity.

"There's something bothering you." The words sounded ridiculous as soon as he said them. She had fallen into a bonfire and hospitalized for severe burns down the entire left side of her body. He imagined there certainly was something bothering her.

Karen didn't give him a reproachful or "no kidding" look however, instead cast her eyes down on the blanket gathered around her legs. After smoothing it and clearing her throat, she began picking at a bit of imaginary lint. "Well I'm a little worried about how Seiichiro is doing trying to manage the kids on his own. They can be quite a handful and Nataku's class trip is coming up, so you know, there's a lot to keep up with right now."

Kakyou wondered if he should even address how unconvincing she sounded until she glanced up.

"What about you?"

"Me?"

"I know you've been trying to find a way to win over Hokuto-chan." She gave him a sly grin that faded quickly. "But something else has been on your mind lately too. Something else has you on edge lately. Kind of jumpy."

He began to protest in denial but decided against it. "It's complicated."

"Do you want to talk about it?" She had adopted her soothing, motherly voice.

"Not particularly. We all have secrets."

She raised an eyebrow. "Yes. Yes we do."  
.

.

A bird landed on her shoulder on the way home.

This was in fact a common occurrence for Kotori as she had always had an affinity for small animals and that fascination had always been returned on their part as well, but this bird felt different somehow. Kotori sensed it the moment the dove landed her shoulder, as if warm light shone from each lustrous feather, seeping into her shoulder and slowly spreading across her collarbone and arm. The dove did not look at her, nor even make a sound, merely resting for a moment as though it existed for no other reason than to hold Kotori captivated by its sheer perfection. For one reverent moment, she wondered if this were the very creature that had inspired people to believe in angels and then, as if the dove had heard her thoughts, it took flight.

She was disappointed for a moment, feeling a sudden chill as the light and the warmth left her instantaneously, then Kotori realized that the bird had not flown far. In a flurry of flawless feathers, it had landed on the sill above an elaborate doorway to a church that she passed nearly every day without much thought on the way home from school.

Taking the hint for what she unquestioningly believed it was, Kotori quietly entered the church, feeling a quiet chill sweep over her as she crossed the narrow threshold.

Although it was clearly not required, she slipped off her shoes and padded barefoot past empty pews to a statue of a woman in draped clothing, with a bowed head, weeping. A plaque nearby declared that the dolorous woman was the mother of Christ, weeping for her son's cruel fate. Kotori read the explanation carefully before turning to study the statue again, alarmed when for just a split second, she could have sworn the statue resembled Saya. She quickly realized that the woman's hair was straight, not wavy like her sister's, and the chiseled features too angular.

Strangely, she found that she still could not quite shake the feeling of resemblance and, somewhat disturbed by the idea, she turned away to approach the alter, wondering why the church was completely empty, even if it was the middle of the week. Shouldn't there still be a few devout scattered throughout, contemplating the ineffable or simply seeking solace in the solemn presence of their Lord? Or at the very least, shouldn't there be a priest tidying up the scattered bibles left lying haphazardly on abandoned pews?

She looked up as she reached the alter and there it was, looming above the pulpit, the image she knew in her heart that she had come to see all along. Although her family was Shinto, Kotori had heard the story of Jesus at a young age and recalled vividly her horror in response. It was not the idea of the pain or suffering that had so frightened her at the time, but rather the idea that people could be moved to such violence, were capable of such torment. The story had haunted her for weeks, invading her nightmares and thoughts at every turn until at last it had faded away into a dull lingering fear at the back of her mind.

Now she faced it again with a few more years of life behind her and suddenly a part of the tale clicked into place. She had previously only felt with acuity the anguish, disregarding the man himself upon the cross, but she recalled the ever-emphasized altruism of his actions and she thought of her friends, of her sister.

Of Kamui.

Her eyes never left the cross as she pulled herself onto the alter to reach up and press her hands to the wood, strangely appreciative that it was coarse and unsanded. There was a strange pleasure in the feel of earthen material beneath her hands and bare feet, and she found herself able to find the connection she had been missing all along. The wood of the earth given freely, the blood of a human given freely, all along the story was driven by love. The horror and the pain, it was all still there, but above all, there was the unfaltering desire to give all that could be given.

"You're not supposed to be up there." A voice distracted her from her reverie and

Kotori turned slowly, and at the sight of silky strands of white, thought dreamily that the dove had followed her in. As her mind grasped for a tether back to reality, she realized that it was Hinoto standing below her.

"I'm sorry?"

"You are not supposed to be up there." The older girl repeated.

Part of her knew she should get down, but some distant, deeper part of her replied without thought or uncertainty. "But I would be."

Hinoto's jaw clenched ever so slightly and that tiny movement conjured images, half-forgotten, half-imagined, of chains, and cords, and above all, a cage lost to a void. She saw the ugliness of hatred, resentment and fear, of suspicion, manipulation, and death. In Hinoto's delicate, lilac eyes, there were shadows of cruelty and spite, boring deep into her soul and ripping apart her heart until even the shreds were burned away to bitter ashes.

She climbed down from the altar and wrapped her arms around Hinoto, unsurprised that the hug was not returned. Then without a sound, she walked out of the church.

.

.

_At a twitch of Seiichiro's hand and just the lightest touch of concentration, a breeze picked up and dandelions danced in the air. She had always loved the idea of making wishes upon their seeds and sending them out into the world to grow, buoyed by their feathery parachutes, and he loved the magic in that it was her breath that would release them. This was certainly a day for magic and wishes._

_His bride began to walk down the aisle and he delighted in the way tulle gathered around the trim of her gown, leaving the impression of being carried by a cloud. The breeze caught the end of her veil, twitching it away just enough to reveal a glimpse of collarbone and with merely that, Seiichiro felt as though his heart would be swept away with the wind. Relaxing the spell slightly, he inhaled deeply and slowly, savoring the faint humidity and warmth of the summer evening's air. He wanted to remember every detail of this moment for lifetimes to come. _

_"Do you…"_

_Every word tasted of honey, sweet promises, speaking cherishment as though breath alone would be enough to send their sentiments to heaven._

_"in sickness and in health…"_

_Her hands, so soft in his, so real. He would protect those hands that he may forever hold them and never feel alone in this world._

_"..until death do us part."_

_He lifted the veil, so slowly, calling the breeze once more to help him raise the sheer material away, removing the last barrier between him and his beloved…_

_But the face… it was wrong. The eyes were not so wide, but darker and more distinctly eastern, the nose less sharp and the cheeks rounder, softer features, a smile that spoke of the warmth of a hearth, not the fire of a furnace…_

_"Who… are you?" He wondered._

Shimako.

_With the thought of her name, the world shattered, splintering away in a torrent of broken glass as fragile illusions yielded to the inevitable. Seiichiro reached for her, meaning to pull her close, to shield her with his own body, to protect, but the harder he tried to reach her, the further away she seemed until she too broke and crumbled away._

_Falling to his knees, Seiichiro closed his eyes tightly and wrapped his arms around himself, as though he could contain the pain threatening to consume him by holding in the memories close to his chest. When he opened his eyes once more, he was in a nearly empty park beneath somber skies full of clouds waiting for the thunder to signal their time to commence the downpour they contained. A few yards away, a young girl knelt, heedless of the gathering storm, searching in the grass. Her hand emerged from the ground clutching several dandelions. She noticed him then and approached slowly, as though afraid he would bolt like a frightened forest animal. There was something vaguely familiar about the girl and an urgency struck Seiichiro then; he needed to recall who she was, and soon. _

_"This one is yours." She held out a dandelion and he automatically took it, feeling for the first time just how thin and insubstantial the stem was. _

_"And the others?"_

_"There are many people with wishes to make."The girl sank to her knees with him, holding one hand up to slightly cup the dandelions so that the gathering winds would not rip away their seeds prematurely. _

_He vaguely recalled the trip to the beach suddenly. "Kamui…"_

_She nodded. "Yes, one is his."_

_"No, I mean you're a friend of his aren't you? I remember seeing you together."_

I remember seeing your lifeless form in his arms.

_He gasped at the recollection and clawed at his chest, suddenly unable to breathe. Lightning rent the sky in two, ripping through the clouds and releasing the storm._

_"Don't wait too long." She cautioned. "If you don't make your wish soon, the storm will take it from you." She motioned to the dandelion whose seeds were already being washed away by the rain._

_"My wish…" he tried to choke out, but the breath just wouldn't return to him. He felt the air being washed away by the rain and he knew he was drowning in it, but he couldn't summon the strength to fight it. He had forgotten what it was he was supposed to be fighting for, and just as he felt himself slipping away into oblivion, he saw the dandelion swept away by the tide and with it, all his hopes…_

"Seiichiro!"

He jerked awake, blinking against the blinding assault of the hospital lights above him. He wondered for a moment if he had been brought here because he had been drowning until he realized that he was draped across the arm of a chair obviously meant for guests, not patients.

Karen bent over him and he read the concern in her face distantly but felt as though once more the breath had been stolen from him as the words slammed into his throat and he struggled not to release them.

_"Who are you?"_

_._


	25. The Fox and the Hunter

Kamui had come to love the library.

He had never exactly been a bookworm, but he did enjoy reading well enough, when he had had time to get around to it and the CLAMP School library was nothing if not impressive. At first, the only draw for him every day was the promise that he might find some scrap of information that would lead him to Fuuma, but over the weeks, he had found himself absorbed in all kinds of other interesting information.

Who knew that thirteen people a year died from vending machines falling on them? Or that there was actually such a thing as underwater streams?

He had initially been filing away all of the information he had come across in the vague hope that it might somehow come in handy, but more and more lately he realized how futile an idea that really was. He was starting to memorize the Dewey Decimal system, but he was pretty sure by now that there was no category devoted to missing best friends.

Then there was the ever nagging question of why he felt it was so important to find Fuuma at all. His search had seemed so obvious at first, as though there was no conceivable alternative and to him there wasn't, but the more time that passed, the more he found himself facing the question of why he was still looking. He had told Subaru, ages ago it seemed, that his wish was to bring Fuuma back no matter what the cost and so far he had relentlessly stuck to that wish. It had seemed like the right thing to do at the time because he had genuinely believed that his childhood friend had been there still somewhere and that he too would want to come back. Only now was it beginning to occur to him that maybe the reason he hadn't found Fuuma was because Fuuma truly didn't want to be found.

It was a painful thought because in the end, if it were true, it would mean that Fuuma considered their friendship severed, or at least not worth actively participating in anymore.

Kamui sighed and let his head fall forward onto the polished wood of the study table he had claimed as his territory for the afternoon.

"Do you need some more help, Shirou-kun?"

He started at the voice and looked up into the bespectacled face of the library's most accommodating student intern.

"No, thank you Hououji-san."

"You know you can call me Fuu."* She pulled out the chair across the table from him. "Is everything okay? I thought when you first started coming in here you were stressed out because of a research project but you've been coming in on a regular basis for months now and your searches seem sort of all over the place."

"I know." Kamui sighed. "I just… have a lot on my mind. Too many questions to know where to look for the answers I guess."

The girl's features mysteriously aged well beyond her years in a matter of seconds. "I can understand that." She replied heavily.

Before Kamui could remark upon the sudden change in her countenance, she stood and vanished into the shelves. Kamui began to wonder if she had just needed to get back to work or decided she didn't feel like talking to him anymore until she reappeared with beaten, weather-worn tome. She neatly rearranged the many haphazard stacks of books Kamui had gathered around himself like a miniature fort until she had space to set the new arrival neatly before him.

"What's this?"

"A book." She studiously adjusted her glasses.

"Well… yeah. But what about?"

She glanced furtively around the library to make sure no one was watching or listening before leaning in closely to whisper, "whatever you need it to be about."

Kamui gazed at the cover in bewilderment, realizing that there was no title, no author, nothing.

"Everybody who reads it, finds a different story in it, depending on what you need to find."

"What… how?" Kamui tilted the book sideways. "Is this one of the engineering department's latest projects in mood recognition or something?" He searched for a hidden battery case, flipped the book open, expecting to see a small monitor. Instead there were only frail, yellow pages.

"It's not electronic. It's really a book."

"But how does that work?"

"It's… not science. It isn't from here." Fuu replied evasively. "Just read it. It might be your best bet to find what you're looking for."

_Not science._ Kamui flipped through a few blank pages at random before resting on one. Only when he had left the book open to the page for a few moments did writing begin to appear, soaking up through the page like an ink spill in reverse.

_Magic._ He realized with a start. But there wasn't supposed to be any in this world according to Subaru… how did she come by it?

Before he could confront her about the book's mechanism, Fuu had once again disappeared and so he turned his attention back to the book where the ink had settled into more orderly words and began to read.

_Once upon a time, there was a fox with fur like shining copper. In the way of foxes, he was clever and quick-footed and was more than content to live in his forest with the shrews and the sparrows and even the big black bear who rumbled through the trees like thunder. The fox spent summers chasing butterflies and winters burrowed warm in his den. Springtime was for watching the raindrops dance and autumn for playing among the leaves. All in all, the fox was happy._

_Then one day a hunter came and saw the fox's pelt that shone like copper. The fox smelled the hunter and in shyness, fled. He was surprised that the hunter followed him all the way into the heart of the forest until he was able to hide beneath a fallen log. _

Why, _the fox thought to himself_, the hunter must be stricken with love to have followed me all this way. _And for a moment, as the hunter cursed his bad luck at having lost his quarry, the fox considered poking his head out of his shelter. _No, _he thought at last_, it would be better to make him work for it a little more, to prove that he really loves me.

_And so the fox began to play at the edge of the forest each day, until he had the hunter's attention, then happily raced away, letting the hunter chase him, as was his wont._

_Every day the same ritual occurred, of the fox catching the hunter's eye and fleeing before the hunter could catch up to him, every day for several months and every day the hunter seemed to grow more ardent. In the springtime, the hunter chased him through the rain. In the summertime, he chased the fox past the bees and butterflies. In the autumn, he ran through beds of leaves to seek the fox's hiding places. _

_At last when the first chill winds of winter began to sing through the woods, the fox decided that it was time. The hunter had proven his love was true and unwavering and so the fox felt that the pursuit could at last come to an end. _

_So one day when the hunter followed him into the woods, the fox ran back to his den, but rather than hiding inside, he waited at the entrance, ready to welcome the hunter into his life._

_When the hunter caught up to the fox, he raised his rifle and- _

_And the fox would not dance in the raindrops or play in the leaves or chase the butterflies or sleep warm in his den anymore._

Kamui close the book with a slam.

"Didn't care for what it had to say?"

He jumped, wondering when Fuu had slid back into the seat across from him.

"I just… didn't really like the ending."

She nodded, understandingly. "Most people don't like what it has to say. What was your story about?"

He uncomfortably recounted the tale, all the while trying not to glare at the book itself.

"Hm." Fuu ran a fingertip across the edge of the pages.

"It was just about an innocent misunderstanding; why did it have to end so badly? Why did they have to write that the fox died?"

"What was the alternative in this case? If the hunter had actually fallen in love with the fox and didn't kill him, wouldn't he have ceased to be a hunter?"

"Well yeah but he could have become something else. A farmer. A circus clown. Anything."

Fuu pulled the book to her own side of the table, thoughtfully stroking the cover. "But all we knew about him was that he was a hunter. That was his identity. Falling in love would have caused him to lose it. If a hunter doesn't hunt, who is he?"

_One who hunts the majesty of the gods._

Kamui shuddered as the phrase washed over him.

"Fuu, do you believe in fate?"

She thoughtfully tapped the side of her glasses. "I used to."

"You don't anymore?"

"It's not so much that." She looked around the room to see if they were alone, but upon spotting a study group a few feet away, she gave a nearly imperceptible shrug, evidently thinking better of what she had been about to say. "It's more like I'm not sure anymore that there is a difference between there being a predestined path for us and having the ability to choose our own path. In the end, what happens will happen and we can't know one way or another how things might have been differently."

"What if you don't like the way that things have turned out? What if you make your choices and discover that you regret them?"

Again, the look of wisdom and pain well beyond her years crossed the girl's face. "You have to live with the consequences of your actions one way or another. If the situation turns out badly then the only thing you can do is work to make amends." Much to his surprise, she reached across the table then, to briefly grab his hand. "But Kamui?" He tensed at the use of his given name. "Don't blame yourself for everything. Sometimes even the choices that seem to be all our own were inevitable given the circumstances. You have to remember that you did what you thought was best at the time." She gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. "Does that make sense?"

"Yeah." He squeezed her hand back. "Thanks."

.

.

The only reason that Arashi had agreed to this was because Yuzuriha was coming along as well. Or so she kept telling herself. She certainly wasn't going out for ice cream with Sorata as a date. She didn't even like ice cream, which was probably a good thing since halfway through their walk, the whole scoop had slid most gracelessly off of her waffle cone and onto the sidewalk where Inuki had promptly licked it up.

Sorata had enthusiastically offered her the rest of his own cone but, with a glance at the sticky mess that was his strawberry/banana swirl dripping down his hand, she coolly declined, hoping that her calm reply would belie her utter embarrassment at having dropped hers in the first place.

"Sora-chan, I think more of your ice cream is getting on your hand than in your mouth now." Yuzuriha pointed out.

"It's this crazy global warming! Making it too hot to eat cold treats!" Sorata replied before bounding away to dispose of the cone's paper wrapper and hold his hand beneath the thin stream of a park water fountain.

Arashi watched him momentarily before realizing that Yuzuriha was pensively regarding her over peanut parfait.

"What?" She raised a hand to her cheek, self-consciously wondering if there was ice cream smudged on her face. She didn't need any more humiliation after dropping it.

"You really like him don't you?"

Oh no. This was much worse.

She felt the color rise to her cheeks even as she stammered a denial, realizing how terribly unconvincing she must sound.

Yuzuriha gave her a knowing smile. "You're at the advantage, you know. You already know that he really likes you."

When had kids this age gotten so bold?

"He's mentioned that." She mumbled at the ground.

"He talks about it all the time. He thinks you're really beautiful." The girl chirped in continuation.

"Isn't that kind of shallow?" Arashi found her mouth moving before she had a chance to reconsider the words.

Yuzuriha's eyes widened. "I think you misunderstand. It's not that he just thinks you're pretty to look at it." She waved a hand flippantly. "I mean you are, and he does think that too, but that's not what he means. When he says that you're beautiful, he means all of you, outside _and _inside."

Arashi stared at the girl, unable to process the explanation and nearly stumbled backward into the street when Sorata suddenly reappeared beside them, more or less cleaned up.

"Shall we continue our walk?" He asked, clearly oblivious to the conversation that had just been in progress.

"Yes!" Yuzuriha answered, saving Arashi the trouble of choking out any kind of sensible response. "There is a store around the corner that sells pet supplies and I saw a really cute water and food bowl set in there the other day that we should get for Inuki!"

"But we already have a food and water bowl for him."

"Yeah but not a matching _sparkly_ food and water bowl."

They had barely taken two steps when Sorata's laugh was cut short and the strangest shift took place. It was as though all of the color suddenly drained from the world, taking with it the normal sounds of the city. Arashi froze in place as a lamppost that had been standing only moments before mysteriously vanished and reappeared in twisted pieces on the ground before them. The cars and the people were simply there one moment and gone the next, and in their place angry scars ran across the street and sidewalk where the earth had split open, exposing the dirt and rock beneath the broken concrete and what space wasn't uprooted was covered in shatter glass and fallen signs from abandoned buildings.

The worst part of all though was the silence. No one was honking, no one was talking, no music drifted from the doors of nearby shops. Nothing.

A wave of cold nausea washed over Arashi.

"What… what is this?" Yuzuriha at last spoke, her voice uncharacteristically shaky. "Did we… just wander onto a movie set?"

Arashi turned around, half expecting to see the park they had just left, still sunny and bright behind them, but instead she was met with the sight of fallen and dead trees, mangled and broken by debris. Another icy wave broke over her.

"Where is Sorata?"

"He was just right here." Yuzuriha blanched. "This is another dream isn't it? Please tell me it's just another dream."

"Another…?" Arashi shook her head and took the younger girl's arm, surprised to find that she was trembling. Even Inuki seemed shaken as he pressed against Yuzuriha's ankle with his tail tucked firmly beneath his legs. "Let's see if we can find someone and figure out what's going on."

Yuzuriha nodded faintly then her eyes sharpened once more with their familiar determination. "Right. We just have to keep moving."

Arashi wished she could be so confident.

It seemed to take ages before they came across a building that, although it had partially collapsed, strangely still appeared to have power considering that the lights in the lobby were still on, shining down into the muted streets with as warm a glow as could be expected from fluorescent bulbs. As far as the two girls were concerned, it may as well have been a lighthouse after years lost at sea.

Their disappointment was swift however as they quickly discovered that there was no one in said lobby or on any of the still accessible floors that they could find. It was not until they were about to leave that Arashi spotted the door to the basement and pointed it out.

"There are never good things in basements." Yuzuriha stared suspiciously at the door. "Don't you watch any horror movies?"

"As a matter of fact I don't." Arashi strode toward it as purposefully as she could bring herself to manage, angrily repressing the sudden mental images of ax murderers and many-legged monsters the comment had conjured.

The door creaked open slowly, revealing unwelcoming concrete steps leading deep into shadows.

Inuki gave a high-pitched keen.

"Yeah." Yuzuriha agreed with the dog. "You said it." She tugged at Arashi's sleeve. "There can't be anyone down there."

"But maybe there is." Arashi squinted as she took a step down. "There's a doorway down there and I think I see a light coming from underneath it."

Yuzuriha shifted nervously before stepping down with her. "Well, what choice do we have but to check it out I guess? But I have a bad feeling about this place."

_So do I. _Arashi silently acknowledged, but the girl was right. What else were they going to do? They took a deep breath and pushed open the door together.

It opened readily to reveal a room gently lit by flickering candles. It was just enough light to see the girl kneeling in the middle of the floor, her long pale hair spilling all around her. Familiar hair that belonged to…

"Hinoto!" They both cried in relief.

The girl's eyes snapped open in surprise. "Kishuu-san, Nekoi-san. How… why are you here?"

"We don't know! One minute we were just walking along, minding our own business and enjoying some tasty ice cream, and the next we were here in this weird place!" Yuzuriha gasped and leaned forward. "Is that how you got here too? I bet it's the ice cream! Maybe the guy put a weird hex on us!"

Hinoto stared at her in incomprehension.

Arashi placed a hand on the younger girl's shoulder to quiet her before she could further confuse their only hope at help. "Have you seen Sorata by chance?"

"I- I have not seen Arisugawa-kun since before his death."

Arashi's blood ran cold. "His what?"

"You… came from another place?"

"Yeah we did- what do you mean about Sora-chan?" Yuzuriha's voice was stretched too thin like it would snap, breaking her as well.

"You have to go back." Hinoto cried in alarm. "Don't let Kamui falter."

"_What happened to Sorata?" _Arashi nearly shrieked.

"Don't let him…"

Hinoto melted away before she could finish speaking, along with the candles and the meditation circle, leaving Arashi and Yuzuriha alone in a basement full of mops and Windex and fluorescent light.

Arashi sank to her knees, clutching her arms around her as though she would shatter. Before she could truly break down, they were both startled by the sound of Yuzuriha's cell phone, the upbeat J-pop of her ringtone echoing discordantly off the steel supply shelves.

"H-hello?" She choked.

"Yuzu-chan! Where are you?!"

Arashi's head snapped up as Sorata's voice came crashing through the speaker.

"Sora-chan… you're okay."

"Of course I'm okay! What gives? First we're walking along, having a great time, then there's that weird flash of darkness or whatever the heck that was, and then you run off with my lady?!"

Tears of relief slipped silently down Arashi's cheeks as she dragged herself to her feet.

"We just- saw a dress we liked and just had to try on."

"Ohh I see. Already picking out Onee-san's clothes for a more romantic one-on-one style date, huh? You're the best little sister."

Arashi wondered where Yuzuriha had learned to fake a giggle so realistically. It certainly couldn't be real considering the still slightly wild look lingering in her over bright eyes.

"I think we're going to be a while, so why don't we meet you at home in a little bit okay?"

"Alrighty!" There was a pause on the other end of the line and Sorata's voice lowered. "Are you okay, Yuzu-chan?"

"Yeah! Why do you ask?"

"I dunno… you just sounded kind of strange there for a minute."

"Oh that's because I'm trying to change while I'm talking. I really should get off the phone."

"Ah. Well okay then. Pick out something sexy for Onee-chan!"

"Will do!"

Yuzuriha hung up the phone with a weary sigh and they quickly discovered that they were locked in the basement. Fortunately it didn't take long for a janitor to hear their knocking and calling at the door and after a stern warning about playing around in places they shouldn't be, he showed them out the door of what they realized had been the Diet building all along.

Much to their relief, the streets outside were teeming with life and color once more and the cracks on the sidewalk were the ordinary kind.

Arashi stepped over one carefully nonetheless, afraid of it opening beneath her feet and swallowing her whole.

.

.

_A/N: Regarding Fuu. For those of you who don't recognize her, she is one of the main characters of Magic Knight Rayearth and in case you have not read the story, (SPOILER ALERT) it is told in two parts and more or less goes as follows: In part 1, Fuu and two other girls from ordinary every day Japan find themselves in a magical world where they are told that they are magic knights who are meant to save this particular country from destruction. They go into it like any teenage girls faced with a very stereotypical rpg kind of setting would, with great excitement and self-importance. It is then revealed at the end that this princess is essentially the pillar of the world and because she has fallen in love with a person instead of devoting her entire heart to love of the country, she is to blame for it falling apart and the knights must kill her. Come Part 2, they must deal with the consequences of the princess' death and confront their own feelings on the task that they ultimately had to carry out. _

_The book that Fuu has in this chapter isn't something from the series, it's from a dream I had but I decided that it might be something she brought back with her (as the characters do return to every day Japan) and I figured her experiences in dealing with that entire situation would lend her a wiser air, and make her a little better at sympathizing with some of what Kamui is going through, despite not having any clue as to the specifics. _


	26. Bittersweet

Karen's hands trembled only slightly as she stared at the paper before her, musing that it was striking how something so innocuous as a name and address could make her feel slightly ill.

She hated subterfuge, had always preferred to face things head on, but she knew that while her husband could meet her on most fronts, there were things about which he required more subtlety, things about which he could not bring himself to speak aloud and she knew instinctively this was one of them. If she confronted him about the fact that he had murmured Shimako's name in his sleep a few days ago, he would surely balk. Seiichiro would assure that he wasn't cheating, which she already knew, and fail to make any mention of resurfacing memories.

If this had happened more than about six months ago, she wouldn't have known what to make of the name. However, ever since Kamui's arrival…

When the memories had come flooding back, she had first thought that maybe this was actually heaven. That they were all really dead and that now they were in this paradise. Others might have considered her life fairly mundane but she was genuinely happy with where she was, with her career, and most of all with her husband and children. She could not have designed a more perfect personal heaven if she tried. Of course at some point or another she had begun to realize that the heaven theory was merely fanciful notion but the realization had not really sunken in until the incident at the beach.

Now that she knew, and now that she was aware of Seiichiro's own slowly returning memories, she knew she couldn't just keep going on like everything was perfect and exactly as it was all meant to be.

So she took a deep breath and slipped the paper into her husband's briefcase. He would do whatever he would do from here.

.

.

Yuuto had always known that he was inconsequential as far as the world was concerned. After all, one person really couldn't make any significant difference to the way the world functioned. He recalled reading once about the Holocaust, and that for all that people might like to think that people learned some sort of lesson from Hitler, by and large, mankind _had not changed a bit._

Still. The one upside to all of this was that if he died, and presumably he would eventually, at least Yuuto would not be around to see how much his death did not affect the world in the slightest. It wasn't so much that he had any illusions about his own importance, but he didn't really need his lack thereof to be thrown in his face.

That was exactly what had happened.

The moment that he and Karen had fallen into the bonfire, everything had gone dark for just a split second, and Yuuto was certain that he was dead. That part wasn't really so strange; near-death experiences have been documented for centuries. The strange part was that in that second, he could see the world, not exactly as it was now, but nonetheless still there, existing without him.

_Who will cry for you when you die?_

The words had echoed at the back of his mind, Satsuki's voice flat with feigned indifference. Or at least he thought it was feigned.

_Who did?_ He suddenly wondered. _Did anyone?_

The memories hadn't hit him all at once but had come back while he had lain unconscious in the hospital, images arriving in flashes and scraps with blurred edges like ripped bits of photographs. He had been able thus far to piece together enough to have a vague idea of what had happened over all, but most vividly, and most completely, what he remembered was dying. Or at least he thought he remembered it; he may have been projecting his more current experience of falling into a bonfire onto being incinerated alive by a fire-manipulating hooker. At least it had been an interesting way to go. He would have hated his death to be boring.

Now he wondered if Karen too had remembered anything. He had even seen flashes of others that he had met, like the boy and his older "cousin" that had been searching for a friend, like Karen's son, like the awkward teenage boy with the backward baseball cap that had been at the picnic. Like Satsuki.

His last memory was of thinking of her, strangely enough. He vaguely remembered looking up at the lights of the city as they grew mysteriously dim and distant, and mumbling, or maybe only thinking, something to the effect of "I'm sorry". He had been planning to meet her for tea as usual that night and the plans had obviously been broken by the inconvenience of his death.

The thing was, Satsuki had always been just a fun companion from time to time to him. She was nothing more than some diverting conversation, an easy lay, and a good excuse to scout out interesting tea shops in the area. It had never occurred to him that there was anything about her that set her apart from any one of the many women he associated with, except perhaps the fact that she was a fellow dragon. Even that fact he disregarded as they had such wildly different approaches to and views on their roles in the apocalypse. It wasn't as if they had bonded over their desire to obliterate the human race considering that Yuuto could not have cared less what happened to mankind one way or another.

All of this considered, he found it peculiar that she was the last thing he had thought of as he had slumped against a fountain ledge, dying. He recalled hearing once that no one appreciated what they had until they lost it. Interesting, he somehow seemed to have gotten that backward, not appreciating what he had until he was the one lost.

Then again, maybe it had just been easier to admit to himself that he gave a damn about someone when he knew he wouldn't have to face her ever again. He always had been a coward, a fact he had never been proud of per se, but had accepted without remorse nonetheless.

He stared at his reflection in the cold metal of his hospital tray, eyeing the bandages that still covered half of his face and feeling like half of himself had been hidden in the past. Some part of him wished that he had _stayed_ in the past. He didn't want the memories or the philosophical questions that they raised regarding the nature of life. Ignorance was bliss. If he hadn't known that before, he certainly knew it now.

His cell phone, miraculously salvaged in the midst of the accident, suddenly buzzed, interrupting his thoughts. He picked it up to see a text message from Satsuki.

_Hey, you get discharged today right?_

He gripped the phone a little tighter than perhaps necessary as he scrolled down.

_Do you want me to give you a ride home?_

He typed back a quick "_no_". Then thought for a second and added beneath it.

_Let's go get tea._

.

.

Seiichiro stared at the paper in his hands, knowing full well that it was in his wife's handwriting and knowing full well what it meant. He had thought about throwing it away, or better yet, burning it but he couldn't bring himself to do either. Instead, he had spent all day anxiously trying not to think about it. He had already made his decision, probably had before he had even seen the paper, but it didn't make the knowledge any easier.

So when he got off work and saw the text message from Karen that she didn't need him to visit her in the hospital tonight and that Kamui was watching the kids, he merely nodded to no one in particular. Of course. He should have taken the B train to get home. He took the F instead.

It was a few blocks away from the station, but not so far. The neighborhood was a pretty ordinary one, all things considered. He was glad for that. Maybe this time around she had been able to live a more normal life and he supposed that was what he had wished for for her wasn't it?

He had an alibi for dropping in randomly. He had done a poll back in college for the university's newsletter on how residents in various neighborhoods perceived the efficacy of their respective school systems and compared it to the national exam scores being reported. He remembered his spiel so well even now, he was certain it would roll off the tongue just as easily as any lie. For him of course this was not generally so easy, but what choice did he have? It wasn't as though he could tell the truth here.

It turned out though that he didn't need his cover story after all as no one was home when he rang the bell. For a long time he stared sadly at the 217 placard on the door as though he could make some sort of sense out of the numbers. At last, he willed himself to walk away, feeling his heart sink with every step. He couldn't go home he realized. Not right now. He couldn't handle seeing his children and that realization in particular was like a knife in the chest. He found a bench in a local park and carelessly dropped his briefcase at his feet, staring sightlessly ahead.

"Mommy, can you push me on the merry-go-round one more time?"

Seiichiro jerked his head around so fast he nearly gave himself whiplash. Directly behind the bench he had so fatefully chosen was indeed a brightly painted merry-go-round complete with a small girl, tugging excitedly at the steel handlebars.

"Okay, one more time and then we need to go home so we can start dinner."

Seiichiro half turned, gripping the back of the bench until his knuckles turned white.

_Shimako… Yuka…_

He had loved her smile then and if he had never seen her before in this life, he was sure that he still would have been drawn in by the warmth that emanated from it. So much kindness in that simple expression. A mild breeze caught her hair and with a wrench of his heart he was reminded of how much he had loved running his hands through those soft chestnut waves.

With the soft crunch of gravel, she adjusted her stance to make it easier to push the ride and the motion caught his eye. It was odd, he had forgotten how much he had loved her ankles. The first year they had been married, they had gone on a ski trip together and she had twisted her foot the first day so they had spent the rest of the trip in their suite, resting by the fire. He remembered helping pull her boots off and how much her ankle had swollen by the time they had gotten back. With tender care, he had wrapped the injury, silently vowing never to let harm come to her again, a promise he had kept, even at the cost of actually being with her…

Yuka's shriek of glee startled him back to the present. When the ride stopped and she hopped dizzily off, stumbling slightly, he fought the urge to run across the playground and sweep her up in his arms, lifting her into the air as he knew she so dearly loved. He wondered back then if she had known that no matter how late he got home from work, he had always slipped into her room to give her a good night kiss, even if she was already asleep. Tears burned the back of his eyes at the memory and the realization that he did the same thing now every night to Nataku and Kazuki.

"What should we make for dinner tonight?" Shimako took the girl's hand, steadying her.

"Sukiyaki!"

"But it's summertime! And you say that every night."

_She does._ Seiichiro thought with a bittersweet smile. _Or did?_

"Because it's my favorite!"

Shimako laughed. "Well let's see if that's what Daddy wants first then."

Seiichiro's heart stopped dead in his tracks as for one second he thought that she might be referring to him and immediately realized in the next second that she wasn't, with all that that implied.

He watched them make their way out, disappearing behind the brick wall surrounding the park. Only once they were out of sight did he drop his face into his hands.

.

.

With Kamui babysitting and Seishirou already back at work, Subaru found himself staying at the clinic later and growing antsy even when he did go home. He couldn't stand to be alone anymore. When he was alone it was like parts of the world began to chip away, showing the happy life he had built here and now to be nothing more than a flimsy façade. He had started taking walks just to stay out of the apartment after he nearly had a meltdown once by himself in the apartment. More often than not, the walks led him to Ueno park, to the sakura tree as though it could somehow give him answers when he didn't even know the questions. He would stare at the branches for hours sometimes, not moving, other times he would circle, wandering different paths through the park, always somehow finding his way back to the tree. Rarely did he notice anything else about his surroundings.

It was the briefcase that caught his eye. He remembered Hokuto buying it as a Christmas gift last year, citing that the Italian leather was the best money could buy even though Subaru thought it was a bit flashy for Seiichiro.

"Aoki-san?"

Seiichiro's head snapped up and even in the fading evening light, Subaru could tell that his eyes were rimmed with red, although they were dry.

"What's wrong?" Subaru sank to the bench beside him.

Seiichiro merely shook his head. "It's complicated. I don't even know how to explain it myself and even if I did, I'm sure you wouldn't believe me."

_Wouldn't believe…?_

"I should probably be going any-"

"You remember." Subaru cut him off in shock.

Seiichiro froze and they stared at one another for a few long moments, trying to ascertain how crazy they might sound if they broached the topic too directly.

Subaru at last decided to break the silence. "You remember another world where things were going… differently."

Seiichiro gave a bitter laugh laced with a hint of relief. "To put it lightly." He stared as his hands, fingers entwined in his lap. "So Karen and I aren't the only ones."

"No, Kamui, Kakyou and I all remember as well."

"What about Seishirou?" Aoki jumped slightly at some thought and Subaru knew he had just remembered another piece of the puzzle. "Oh." He gave Subaru a sympathetic look. "Does he…"

"I don't think he remembers."

"Odd." Aoki closed his eyes. "Lucky."

Subaru wasn't sure how to respond to that but it turned out that he didn't need to as Aoki continued of his own accord, explaining about his former wife and Karen.

"The problem is… I love them both. I loved them both then and I love them both now." Aoki stared miserably at his hands. "And I feel like I've cheated on Shimako. Especially when I consider that the entire reason I was working so hard for the world to be put back together so that she and I could live peacefully and raise a happy, healthy family." He hung his head. "In the end, I think all I managed to do was hurt her. Maybe this is punishment for lying."

"Lying?"

"I divorced her you know. I didn't want to tell her that I was one of the dragons of heaven, but I also didn't want her or Yuka to get hurt. I was so afraid that something like… like what happened to Daisuke would happen to them so I had to leave. The problem was that although I couldn't tell her the truth of why, I had to tell her something." His shoulders slumped even further forward in dejection. "So I told her I had fallen out of love with her."

Subaru sighed. "I was upset once, a long time ago, because I told someone a lie, even though it was a lie to cover a much worse truth. I was supposed to meet Seishirou for dinner that night but I was so upset that I went to tell him I needed to be left alone to think. When he realized how upset I was, Seishirou pulled me inside and we talked about it. He basically told me that it wasn't fair to blame myself for telling a lie when the truth would have likely destroyed the woman's life."

"Did knowing that help?"

"Sort of. I still felt guilty because I have always thought that people should be allowed to know the truth, even if it isn't a pretty truth. But it did put things into perspective. What was done was done. Even if I didn't think what I had done was particularly ethical, it was too late to go back on it and would have done more harm than good to do so. All you can really do is keep going."

They sat in silence for a few moments, watching a few stragglers wander by on their way out of the park as streetlights came on and shadows lengthened.

"Shimako… seems happy." Aoki sighed. "It kills me to know that I can't be a part of her and Yuka's lives when that was what I fought for, what I risked my life for, but at the end of the day, I'm glad that they are alive and happy, even if it means not remembering me at all." He choked slightly on the end.

"They aren't the only ones who deserve happiness." Subaru replied quietly. "You did fight for this world, for another chance."

Aoki nodded slowly. "And I got it."

"So things have played out differently. You love Karen and Nataku and Kazuki too. Your family might be different, but you still have one, and you're still a great husband and father." Subaru stared up at the dimming sky. "Would you really be miserable if you simply continued to be?"

"No. No I wouldn't."

"Then what do you really want to do?"

"I want to go home."

.

.

_A/N:_ _Yuuto's death of course has not been gotten to yet in the manga, but the way it played out in the anime I found to be surprisingly touching. For those of you who have not seen it, his last words are an apology for not being able to meet Satsuki for tea, a moment made all the more depressing by the fact that unbeknownst to him, Satsuki is already dead. Even though I'm not a huge fan of either of them, the scene kind of got to me so I wanted to reference it in here somehow. _


End file.
